continues to play an important part in the marketing of Bermuda as the insurance domicile of choice.

Bermuda's presence is prominently displayed among the mass of 900 display booths in the exhibition hall at the Dallas Convention Centre, with the American-based subsidiaries of ACE Ltd. and XL Capital Ltd. competing to see which company has the tallest booth display.

Many of the 130 Bermuda delegation are pressed into service, as is traditional, at the Bermuda booth, set up through a partnership between the local insurance industry and Government. There they hand out canvas bags citing the Island as "The World's Insurance Laboratory'', and containing brochures about doing business in Bermuda. Many delegates also ask questions or may simply want to make contact with someone with whom they do business.

RIMS: Battle of booths Butterfield, Bermuda Commercial Bank, and Stirling Cooke also have booths at the exhibition. ACE has two booths, a smaller one strategically placed next to Cigna. ACE is in the process of acquiring Cigna's property and casualty business for $3.45 billion.

Local representatives from Triangle Brokerage Ltd., J&H Marsh & McLennan, Arthur Anderson, Skandia, Harnett & Richardson Ltd., Mutual Risk Management, International Disability Services Ltd., Kitson Insurance, General International Ltd., Becher & Carlson, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Park International Ltd., Appleby, Spurling & Kempe, Liberty International Management, International Risk Management Group, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Skandinavian Re are also among those attending RIMS this year.

Missing from the picture this year is any representation from The Bank of Bermuda. Last year the company cut back its presence by not having a booth at the conference. Michael Collins, the bank's senior vice president for corporate banking, said the bank decided to cut its presence completely. The bank's change in strategy has been to focus marketing efforts at other conferences. The bank felt that its presence was being diluted at such a large conference, he said.

The Government delegation includes representatives from the Registrar of Companies, including Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood. The Bermuda International Business Association also have representatives here. The organisation will be hosting a breakfast today for delegates at which Premier Jennifer Smith and Finance Minister Eugene Cox will be speaking.

Roger Gillett, chairman of the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee, said the organisation is spending $140,000 this year on marketing Bermuda at RIMS. Most of the money is spent on tonight's reception at the Dallas Museum of Art at which about 500 to 600 are expected to attend. The reception is one of the hottest tickets at RIMS. About 9,000 risk managers are attending the conference, representing companies that buy insurance and related products, or are in the insurance business.

Local marketing company AAC Integrated Communications Ltd. is co-ordinating the events for the Insurance Advisory Committee.

Mr. Gillett said RIMS continues to be the focus event for the Insurance Advisory Committee, which has an annual budget of about $900,000. Government puts up two-thirds of the money, while industry foots the rest. Government and industry have been funding representation at RIMS for the past 15 years.

"The Bermuda representation is as big as it has ever been,'' Mr. Gillett said. "RIMS remains a principal target of our efforts. It's a huge gathering of all the people who are looking to buy our products. There is no better gathering for us in which to represent the Island.'' He said the marketing effort has become broader through the years as Bermuda has diversified away from being mainly a captive insurance company domicile, to a place where global insurance and reinsurance companies are headquartered.

"We have more products to offer,'' he said. "There is always something with which we can engage most people who are attending. There are all sorts of angles, where before there was only a simple angle.'' He believes that the $140,000 is well spent as long as Bermuda continues to do a good job of marketing itself at the annual conference. Taking Bermuda's success at the conference, The Cayman Islands and Barbados have increased their marketing efforts at RIMS.

Mr. Gillett said in the early 1990s Bermuda decided to cut back its marketing efforts at RIMS, while the Caymans and Barbados increased. He believes this decision was partially responsible for a fall off in business in subsequent years. In response Bermuda then decided to up its presence.

"We then cranked up our representation at RIMS,'' Mr. Gillett said. "We had to address our specific concern that our profile needed to be up.'' He believes the level of marketing is just right at the current level. What the Committee is now doing is concentrating its efforts on increasing participation at other conferences and in other areas.

He doesn't think the Cayman Islands and Barbados pose a huge threat to the Bermuda market right now.

RIMS: Battle of booths Butterfield, Bermuda Commercial Bank, and Stirling Cooke also have booths at the exhibition. ACE has two booths, a smaller one strategically placed next to Cigna. ACE is in the process of acquiring Cigna's property and casualty business for $3.45 billion.

Local representatives from Triangle Brokerage Ltd., J&H Marsh & McLennan, Arthur Anderson, Skandia, Harnett & Richardson Ltd., Mutual Risk Management, International Disability Services Ltd., Kitson Insurance, General International Ltd., Becher & Carlson, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Park International Ltd., Appleby, Spurling & Kempe, Liberty International Management, International Risk Management Group, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Skandinavian Re are also among those attending RIMS this year.

Missing from the picture this year is any representation from The Bank of Bermuda. Last year the company cut back its presence by not having a booth at the conference. Michael Collins, the bank's senior vice president for corporate banking, said the bank decided to cut its presence completely. The bank's change in strategy has been to focus marketing efforts at other conferences. The bank felt that its presence was being diluted at such a large conference, he said.

The Government delegation includes representatives from the Registrar of Companies, including Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood. The Bermuda International Business Association also have representatives here. The organisation will be hosting a breakfast today for delegates at which Premier Jennifer Smith and Finance Minister Eugene Cox will be speaking.

Roger Gillett, chairman of the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee, said the organisation is spending $140,000 this year on marketing Bermuda at RIMS. Most of the money is spent on tonight's reception at the Dallas Museum of Art at which about 500 to 600 are expected to attend. The reception is one of the hottest tickets at RIMS. About 9,000 risk managers are attending the conference, representing companies that buy insurance and related products, or are in the insurance business.

Local marketing company AAC Integrated Communications Ltd. is co-ordinating the events for the Insurance Advisory Committee.

Mr. Gillett said RIMS continues to be the focus event for the Insurance Advisory Committee, which has an annual budget of about $900,000. Government puts up two-thirds of the money, while industry foots the rest. Government and industry have been funding representation at RIMS for the past 15 years.

"The Bermuda representation is as big as it has ever been,'' Mr. Gillett said. "RIMS remains a principal target of our efforts. It's a huge gathering of all the people who are looking to buy our products. There is no better gathering for us in which to represent the Island.'' He said the marketing effort has become broader through the years as Bermuda has diversified away from being mainly a captive insurance company domicile, to a place where global insurance and reinsurance companies are headquartered.

"We have more products to offer,'' he said. "There is always something with which we can engage most people who are attending. There are all sorts of angles, where before there was only a simple angle.'' He believes that the $140,000 is well spent as long as Bermuda continues to do a good job of marketing itself at the annual conference. Taking Bermuda's success at the conference, The Cayman Islands and Barbados have increased their marketing efforts at RIMS.

Mr. Gillett said in the early 1990s Bermuda decided to cut back its marketing efforts at RIMS, while the Caymans and Barbados increased. He believes this decision was partially responsible for a fall off in business in subsequent years. In response Bermuda then decided to up its presence.

"We then cranked up our representation at RIMS,'' Mr. Gillett said. "We had to address our specific concern that our profile needed to be up.'' He believes the level of marketing is just right at the current level. What the Committee is now doing is concentrating its efforts on increasing participation at other conferences and in other areas.

He doesn't think the Cayman Islands and Barbados pose a huge threat to the Bermuda market right now.