While risk management focus in Hawaii last month was in Honolulu at the RIMS Conference, Bermuda Insurance Market officials were equally elated at the status awarded to Bermuda in Maui this week by the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA).

Peter J.N. Strong, an executive member of Bermuda?s Insurance Development Council (IDC) with responsibilities for Conference Development, addressed a small, focused group regarding Bermuda?s role in captive management and rent-a-captives.

Mr. Strong, who is also president and director of Bermuda-based Independent Management Ltd., helped delegates understand the efficiencies captive insurance affords.

He has been in the forefront as Managing General Agents (MGAs) seek more business opportunities in the Bermuda Market through the use of Bermuda captives, insurance and reinsurance companies.

The meetings were held at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa on the Ka?anapali Strip at the base of the Pu?u Kukui Mountain range, commonly referred to as the West Maui Mountains. The mountains, which have a highest peak of 5,788 feet, are said to be older than the 10,000-foot Mount Haleakala, and remain visually stunning.

The AAMGA is an international trade association comprised of the premier wholesale property and casualty agents and companies in the insurance industry. The AAMGA website cites its commitment to fostering business partnerships, professionalism, trusted expertise and exchange of knowledge among its members. The site notes these qualities provide the foundation on which the AAMGA and its active Managing General Agent (MGA) members; associate insurance, reinsurance, broker, third-party administrators, law firms, Lloyd?s of London Syndicates and London Market Company members; and business services members provide innovative products and specialised services with reliable continuity to the marketplace, and work to remain as a dynamic and credible authority to influence matters of importance to the global insurance community.

But increasingly, members believe they will need to look to Bermuda in the future for capacity.

Membership in the AAMGA is highly selective and, therefore, the managing general agents admitted to the ranks are those who annually subscribe to a Code of Ethics and demonstrate the highest standards of excellence, experience, integrity and insurance company representation.

Some 1,200 delegates were able to learn much about the Bermuda Market through 2006 literature provided by the IDC, but also through Reactions Magazine which was the most widely circulated publication.

It highlighted Bermuda as the best overall captive domicile and the best domicile in the Caribbean region for tailored regulation. And while it stated that there had been a slowing trend in captive formation in Bermuda and globally, it continued to rank Bermuda as the leading captive domicile by number of captives.

In fact, the numbers belie the truth that Bermuda?s regulators in recent years began refusing to count all captives - particularly those which were dormant or inactive. No other jurisdiction has taken this stance. They continue to pad their count with captives that while remaining on the register, do not conduct any business.

Delegates were also able to learn from the Bermuda booth and from the UK publication that the captive numbers also fail to take into account the increasing trend toward the use of cell companies, instead of pure captives. The cell companies in rent-a-captive facilities, a business dominated by the Bermuda Market, enable corporations to even more efficiently manage risk. But MGAs see other opportunities in the Bermuda Market, apart from just captives.

Members of the AAMGA have in recent years planned more meetings in Bermuda to get a better handle on ways they can benefit from the Bermuda Market. And while they have enjoyed the Pacific paradise in the Hawaiian Islands this month for their annual meeting, they have agreed to continue regular visits to their new-found Atlantic paradise to cement new business relationships in