Three months later than expected, but amid substantial interest, the opening of the Bermuda Commodities Exchange (BCE) for the trading of insurance derivative products appears to now be imminent.

BCE president Thomas C. Heise said yesterday that a membership offering will be put out soon.

He said, "There is extraordinarily strong interest in participating in the Exchange. So we have broadened the initial membership to include foreign companies in the UK, the US and elsewhere.

"And that made it, unfortunately, much more complicated with regard to certain foreign regulations and certain legal issues to document that. It's good news, but it has caused a delay as we were hoping to open in April.'' But for those interested in understanding the bridge being built between the insurance industry and capital markets, more can be learned this month at The Bermuda Commodities Exchange presentation at the Bermuda Insurance Institute.

The "brown bag lunch'' seminar, limited to just 45 participants, is expected to cover information on the exchange's products, details of membership and the trading system.

The BCE provides a market for hedging and investing in catastrophic insurance risk. Those expected to attend include people involved in investment decision-making or administration, and others who are interested in learning about the potential of electronic financial transactions.

The presentation is being made next week Monday by Mr. Heise, but will be repeated on Tuesday.

Those likely to become members or shareholders of the Exchange include financial institutions, insurance companies and intermediaries.

It has already been speculated that Goldman Sachs & Co., CNA Financial Corp., Allstate Corp. and Aon Corp. could join insurance giant American International Group, Inc., Chase Manhattan, the largest bank holding company in the US, and Guy Carpenter & Company, Inc., the leading reinsurance intermediary, as members.

Authorised by a private act of Parliament, the new exchange would trade risks in US dollars and would be owned by members who buy and sell contracts that track on the Guy Carpenter Catastrophe Index. That index measures insured damage to homeowner property in the US caused by hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms.

The Guy Carpenter Catastrophe Index is providing information on homeowners' insurance in force and loss experience in unprecedented detail.

The index will be updated quarterly by IndexCo, LLC, a newly formed subsidiary of Guy Carpenter.

Uniting insurance and capital markets, the BCE offers institutions a new way to hedge and invest in catastrophic insurance risk.

Regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Exchange is to be housed at the offices of AIG Bermuda.

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is providing services to the new exchange and CBOT members have trading privileges.

The BCE will include a CBOT unit which would take a controlling equity stake in the electronic commodities exchange for a ten to 15 percent share of gross revenues and trading privileges for its members.

CBOT staff and members would also earn fees for technical assistance.