Finance Minister Eugene Cox will this morning open a new reinsurance conference being held in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Ruark Insurance Advisors' First Annual Reinsurance Conference had been due to take place from September 19 to 21, but was postponed after the tragic events on September 11.

Now the two-day conference will be held today and tomorrow and delegates are expected to explore treaty opportunities in the Bermuda reinsurance market. Mr. Cox will open the conference at 8.30 a.m. this morning, and is expected to speak for about ten minutes. David Ezekiel, Chairman of the International Companies Division of the Chamber of Commerce, will address the delegates at lunch later today.

Ruark, which is based in Connecticut and is an actuarial consulting firm and reinsurance intermediary, has placed numerous life reinsurance treaties from North American life insurers with Bermuda reinsurers.

Timothy Ruark, president of Ruark Insurance Advisors, said: "Once restructured, the risks underlying certain variable annuity benefits area perfect fit for the Bermuda reinsurance market with its traditional catastrophic portfolios .

"Our firm specialises in this restructuring, ensuring that the annuities' minimum rates on line are very attractive to the reinsurer, and the cash flow more predictable. What's more these risks add diversification to the reinsurer's portfolio, since the variable annuity benefits are not based on natural disasters."

The seminars mainly are aimed at representatives from North America's top life insurance companies and will focus on reinsuring the life contingent risks associated with variable and fixed annuities.

"Conference participants will focus on the optimal methods to reinsure variable annuity risks, such as guaranteed minimum death benefits, earnings enhancement benefits and various fixed annuity products," said Inger Harrington, vice president of Ruark Insurance Advisors, the company that has set up the event.

Ruark, which is by invitation only, expects to draw in American Skandia, The Hartford, Manulife Financial, Merrill Lynch, MetLife and Sun Life of Canada.

"Our conference guests will have the opportunity to explore reinsurance solutions outside of the annuity market, with several Bermuda reinsurers that have been particularly helpful in assuming annuity risks," said Ms Harrington.

Other leading companies expected to attend are Allmerica Financial, Integrity Life Insurance Company, Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Ohio National Financial Services, Phoenix Home Life, Protective Life Insurance Company, Sage Life Assurance of America and Safeco Life Insurance Company.

Ruark described itself as a firm that designs and implements risk management solutions for the equity-based product market. It has expertise in product design, risk analysis, reserve valuations and risk transfer related to guaranteed benefits in annuity products.