In the wake of the American International Group (AIG) bailout and a turbulent week on Wall Street, Bermuda's re/insurance industry will be looking to reduce their exposure to sub-prime and credit crisis and take advantage of new business and clients.

So what better timing than global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman to launch its new offices on the Island spearheaded by CEO John Drzik, under the name of Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Ltd.

To mark the official opening, Mr. Drzik co-hosted a lunch for local business executives and Government officials with Bermudian Brian Duperreault, president and CEO of MMC on Friday.

Meanwhile the company has also released a new report entitled 'The Road Ahead' on the opportunities and challenges facing the Island's re/insurers, who account for eight percent of the world's property and casualty exposure, with issues ranging from talent strategies and changing insurance regulations to an increasingly sophisticated client base and market substitutes for traditional reinsurance.

Oliver Wyman, which is an operating unit of MMC, which also owns Marsh and Guy Carpenter, two sister firms with operations in Bermuda serving the insurance sector, has been serving the Bermuda market, including corporations and non-profit organisations for the past 10 years and has a net worth in excess of $1.5 billion.

"Oliver Wyman has been working with clients in Bermuda for more than 10 years, and now the time is right to establish a formal presence," he said. "Having an office in Hamilton underscores our commitment to growing our business here.

"There has been some long-standing relationships, but until this point we have not had a physical presence here and now we will be able to build a more significant base on the Island with both the local and global players."

Oliver Wyman, which uses industry knowledge, specialised expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, organisational transformation and leadership development, advises its clients on optimising their business, improving their operations and risk profile and speed up their organisational performance.

Despite the recent $85 billion bailout of AIG by the US government, the bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers and the takeover of Merrill Lynch by The Bank of America for $50 billion and the adverse knock-on effects they could have on Bermuda's insurance industry, including investment exposure to the troubled firms, Mr. Drzik reckons the fall-out from the crisis will also present a number of opportunities for companies looking to reap the rewards of new business and client bases.

"We are dealing with people here who are looking at global expansion and people promoting their global presence in Bermuda," he said.

"I think that one of the opportunities that we see as far as those who are in this market today is they are going to be some which are going to come out pretty well from this crisis."

Asked whether he thought the Island's firms have been affected by the sub-prime crisis, he said that Bermuda had come out of the whole episode in reasonably good shape compared to the rest of the world, including the US and Europe.

The new set-up will be run by a team of 10 to 15 overseas consultants coming in to give advice to a client base of three to four companies, including reinsurer Ariel Reinsurance.

Mr. Drzik, who joined the company in 1984 and was appointed chairman in 2000, establishing the firm's position in financial services strategy and risk management consulting, advising financial institutions across the capital markets, wholesale and retail banking and insurance sectors, has written a number of articles on the financial services industry and is a frequent speaker at conferences in the US and Europe. He has also been invited to present at industry and regulatory forums sponsored by the Basel Committee, the Federal Reserve, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the World Bank.