outlining every line of business that the Island's 1,500 insurance companies underwrite.

The brochure, the first of its kind, will also be published on the Internet, according to a statement.

But the marketing committee of the IAC is appealing to all insurers to vet their entries for errors and omissions before the list is published.

"The effort to compile the product inventory was related to a need to map the substantial growth in the Bermuda insurance market,'' said David Fox, the Director of Information Services at the Bermuda Insurance Institute.

"The market has grown in size and complexity, and it was felt there was an increasing need to determine the diversity of innovative risk transfer solutions being provided by Bermuda firms. The increasing activity here has led to substantial interest in the market by insurance buyers. We felt it might be useful to outline in an organised way, exactly what was being provided here.'' The observations of market participants are expected soon, as the first product inventory document will be finalised this week.

Some companies have already received the document and others can obtain a copy via email from the Information Office of the Bermuda Insurance Institute (biminfo yibl.bm), said Mr. Fox.

Bermuda is a major insurance centre and is recognised for its expertise and innovation in a number of areas. At the end of 1999, Bermuda had 1,534 registered insurance companies annually writing $26.6 billion in gross premiums.

It represented dramatic growth from the early 1980s when Bermuda was known merely as an offshore captive insurance domicile. The Island still boasts the largest concentration of captive vehicles by far, but has also made a name as a leading provider of finite reinsurance and property catastrophe reinsurance.

Bermuda continues to foster innovation and its market continues to expand the number of products and solutions being offered. The product inventory is the first detailed look at what products are offered from Bermuda, since the explosive growth in the size of the market in the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Fox said.

When the list is published, it will be available on the Internet on the Bermuda insurance market website: www.bermuda-insurance.org.

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