The Bermuda Captive Conference opened yesterday, with a record 515 delegates.The figure was revealed in introductory remarks from the event’s chairwoman Jill Husbands yesterday.The event, which is in its seventh year, has some industry star appeal this week in the shape of American International Group chief executive officer Robert Benmosche, who is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the Fairmont Southampton this morning.Bermuda is the world’s leading jurisdiction in the captive insurance industry, and is home to 845 active captive insurers, according to Bermuda Montary Authority statistics. The conference has attracted captive owners, insurers and reinsurers, brokers, consultants, support service providers, journalists and prospective captive owners from many countries.Yesterday, Premier Paula Cox delivered an upbeat opening address, highlighting the Island’s attributes and declaring that Bermuda is “open for and open to business”.The Island’s appeal to the industry had come about through a long tradition of legal and political stability, she said, and had been strengthened by the “cluster effect” industry talent and support service converged on the Island.Ms Cox told also told delegates the Government was considering added incentives for job creators.“On the domestic front we are considering changes to our work permit regime to help make Bermuda more attractive to new and existing businesses,” Ms Cox said.“Specifically we are looking at providing increased incentives to job-makers and providing more security of tenure to those who provide meaningful job opportunities to Bermudians in the workplace.”She also stressed Government’s extension of the local tax exemption for international companies to 2035 and its signing of 24 tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with other countries.The TIEA with Canada will come into effect from July 1 meaning that, from then, dividends of foreign affiliates resident in Bermuda that are paid to their Canadian parent companies out of the income earned in Bermuda will be exempt from Canadian taxation. This had already created great interest, she added.Ms Cox added that there were promising signs in the establishment of new insurance businesses on the Island this year. “While the numbers have still to be officially announced, it is my understanding that insurance registrations for the first five months of this year are already close to exceeding the total number of insurance registrations we announced for the whole of 2010,” she said.