The Bermuda Congress, an annual conference that will celebrate its 17th incarnation in October of this year, is to be augmented by a simultaneous Commutations Rendezvous, being organised by Cavell Management Services Limited.

Since the mid-1990s, Cavell has facilitated communication discussions between counterparties at an annual event held in Norwich, England during June. Last year's event attracted more than 300 industry delegates. This year's edition will be held earlier, in June.

The Norwich Rendezvous has generally attracted representatives of British and European risk carriers. Cavell expects that the Bermuda rendezvous will draw in more reinsurers from Bermuda, the US and other parts of the world.

Linking the Rendezvous to the Bermuda Congress, which is organised by Hawksmere and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, will allow attendees to achieve more during their time in Bermuda. Cavell will organise booths for confidential meetings at the same venue so that an even greater audience will be attracted to Bermuda during the week of the Congress.

"Bringing finality to books of business and developing exit strategies are matters of concern to most industry participants," said Alan Quilter, a director of Cavell. "Commutation enables counterparties to close out old business, and our Rendezvous in Norwich has provided an ideal forum for such negotiations.

"We believe that an annual commutation event in Bermuda is not only a natural extension to our Norwich venue, but also one which will bring together even more counterparties from around the world. We are particularly pleased that we are launching our first Rendezvous in Bermuda alongside the Hawksmere event."

Jim Moran, the organiser of all Cavell Rendezvous, said: "By siting a Rendezvous in Bermuda, we will make it easier for the US market to meet its international counterparties. Our system of building booths for each company to use as a corporate base during the event has been very well received in Europe and Singapore, and we expect a similar response from this new audience in Bermuda." Further information about the programme may be obtained from Louise Hodge in London on 7881-1890 or by e-mail at louise.hodgehawksmere.com.