The selection criteria for jurisdictions, their specialities and pros and cons was the focus for the opening session of the 10th Insurance Linked Securities Summit held at the Fairmont Southampton yesterday.The first panel discussion of the day with Jason Carne, partner at KPMG Bermuda, Steve Britton, senior vice-president at the Horseshoe Group, and David Lines, partner at Appleby, looked at the main issues facing service providers, jurisdictions’ changing structures, regulatory framework and the opportunities available in the future.Mr Lines stated the case for Bermuda as a good choice for setting up an Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) vehicle, with its sophisticated market, including a high level of professionals and depth of supervision in the Bermuda Monetary Authority.“I think the world in which we live now is much more heavily regulated by each jurisdiction,” he said. “Now we have to be properly regulated and have proper regulations in place and have proper supervisors.“It is even more important now that we are converging down the path to [Solvency II] equivalence.”Among the Island’s other key attributes, he said, were its flexibility and the balance it struck between legislation and regulation, while the incidence of Special Purpose Insurers (SPIs) in recent years indicated that Bermuda was seeking the best solution for companies domiciled here.Mr Lines pointed to the fact that the Island had established itself as an insurance market as adding to its reputation in the minds of companies deciding where to put their business.“It’s well-known, it’s well regulated, it has continued to weather the storms that have battered offshore jurisdictions through the years,” he said. “Bermuda provides a one-stop shop in as much that the underwriters, companies and service providers are all here.”Mr Britton, who heads Horseshoe’s Cayman operation, said that both Bermuda and the Cayman Islands had responded to a surge in demand for ILS products and shared a number of other similarities, including a fast turnaround time, ease of use and cost of doing business.Mr Lines said that Bermuda was still relatively new to the catastrophe bond market, but was quickly getting up to speed with it in terms of professional staff who know what they are talking about and regulators who understand it.The session was followed by a discussion on sidecars and the early movers in 2011, before splitting into concurrent seminars on non-life and life ILS, including a panel discussion on the lessons learned from the Japanese crisis.