Bermuda’s captive industry is “unparalleled”, making it the preferred location for US and Canadian companies looking for a captive domicile.This is the view of Alan Gier, Global Director of Insurance & Risk Management at General Motors, a Fortune 500 company.In an interview ahead of a series of captive industry meetings in the US, including in Detroit where he will speak on a Bermuda panel, Mr Gier discussed GM’s three decade long relationship with the Island.“GM always views our partnerships on a long term and mutually beneficial basis, over the past 30 years our relationship with Bermuda’s regulator, service suppliers and insurance market place has proved to be such a relationship and we are happy to endorse this excellent captive domicile,” said Mr Gier.The Bermuda Captive Seminar Committee, which is a collaboration between local service providers, audit firms and management companies, is putting the full court press on potential overseas business, conducting marketing roadshows and attending high-level conferences in the US and Canada over the next several months.The ongoing initiative marks the first time local service competitors have come together to promote Bermuda in a unified bloc.GM, which has owned a captive here since 1981, will join local industry representatives at a meeting in October with the Detroit Chapter of Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) to discuss its personal experience with working in Bermuda and the advantages of the marketplace. James Nicholson, vice chairman of PVS Chemicals, another long-time Bermuda captive owner, is also on the panel.Mr Gier explained that three decades ago, Bermuda was the only “sensible” choice for a US corporation looking for a captive domicile.Since then, he said, the jurisdiction has evolved and developed in tandem with GM’s changing needs and captive requirements.“Over the 30 plus years that we have had a captive in Bermuda, its innovation, market development and proactive regulator have always made it our preferred captive location,” he said.“The access to international reinsurance markets and capacity provided by the Bermuda domicile is unparalleled and highly valued and utilised by GM.”After Detroit’s meeting, Bermuda representatives will then move on to Dallas where they will present at the Risk Management Symposium hosted by the Dallas chapter of RIMS and then on to Toronto. This isn’t the first time this year Bermuda reps have visited Canada — in February, captive industry members held breakfast seminars in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.Providing a captive owner’s perspective were representatives from two Canadian energy companies that recently redomiciled here from Barbados — Encana a leading North American oil and natural producer and Vancouver-based Teck.This week Business Bermuda exhibited at the Captive Live USA 2012 conference in Chicago where more than 600 American captive owners, managers, and service providers attended.At the conference the Bermuda Monetary Authority was awarded the 2012 US Captive Services Award for the Best Regulatory Initiative of the Year.“We are excited that our jurisdiction has been recognised for the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s work as having the Best Regulatory Initiative of the Year,” said Business Bermuda CEO Cheryl Packwood, accepting the award on behalf of the BMA.