For the third year in a row, James Stanard of RenaissanceRe emerges as Bermuda's best-compensated officer of a publicly-listed (re)insurance company.

Not, perhaps, by coincidence, Mr. Stanard also tops a table of those providing the best value for money. That conclusion is calculated by comparing managers' annual increases in salary and bonus with the total investment return of their firm's stock.

For fiscal years ending in 1999, Mr. Standard topped the emoluments listing at $4.933 million. His colleague, David Eklund, RenaissanceRe's chief underwriting officer, places second on the list at $4.190 million in salary, bonus, other compensation and stock awards.

ACE's Brian Duppereault, who runs the largest Bermuda-based company in history, places third at $3.911 million; his ACE colleague John Charman comes fourth, with a total compensation package of $3.691 million; and XL Capital's Brian O'Hara, places fifth, with a total package worth $2.707 million.

These gentlemen do not, of course, actually receive all that money. Stock options are often long-term benefits. Payroll taxes, now charged to international company employees in the same fashion as local company employees, diminish the take, and pension plans and other deductions further reduce the executives' take-home pay.

Starting April 1, each of the 20 highest-compensated employees on the list will pay, together with their employers, the maximum payroll tax of $31,875 each. A total of 35 of the 43 executives on the list will pay the maximum, making Government's payroll tax bite alone from those 35 executives an astonishing $1.115 million. The top ten executives are rounded out by Denis Reding and Dominic Frederico of ACE, Mark Brockbank of XL Capital, William Riker of RenaissanceRe and Victor Blake of LaSalle Re.

Further down the list come many of the names with which followers of Bermuda's insurance market are familiar. Those placing from 11th to 20th are, in order: Donald Kramer of ACE, Bruce Connell and Robert Lusardi of XL Capital, Richard Turner of MRM, Lawrence Doyle of Annuity & Life, Herbert Haag of PartnerRe, John Kessock, Jr. of MRM, Henry Keeling of XL Capital, Robert Mulderig of MRM and Guy Hengesbaugh of LaSalle Re.

The tables are computed by Inside Bermuda , a Miami-based offshore e-mail newsletter.

Big bucks: James Stanard of RenaissanceRe (left) and ACE Ltd.'s Brian Duperrault.