Bermuda is slowly becoming the main world marketplace for reinsurance, according to Paul Ingrey, the chief executive officer of Arch Re, one of the new wave of insurance companies to come to the Island post September 11.

The 62-year-old industry veteran was tempted out of retirement by Bob Clements, chairman of Arch Capital, to head up the new venture which has $1 billion in new capital and has been set up in time to take advantage of the upcoming January renewal season.

"In a lot of ways Bermuda is slowly becoming if not the, then one of the market - and when I say market I mean reinsurance - centres of the world," said Mr. Ingrey, the former chairman and chief executive officer of F&G Re Inc.

On October 24, Arch Capital announced the launch of Arch Re to meet current and future demand in the global insurance marketplace thrown up by the attacks on the United States on September 11.

Mr. Ingrey was contacted on October 9 to see if he would be interested in joining the company. Mr. Ingrey, 62, who retired at the end of 1996 after 36 years in insurance, took on the challenge.

He said: "Dwight Evans had been bouncing work off me... I mean I had been out of work for almost five years. However, going through the summer this process was going on.

"But when the unfortunate events in September took place, it didn't take Bob Clements long to realise that this was a whole different thing and that there might be a better opportunity than the one which existed in August."

He added: "I think he had a game plan which included several people and I hope I was the first person on his list.

"I loved being retired but it just seemed to all come together. A lot of it is that I love to compete, no matter what it is and I love the people in this business, and the chance to do both at the same time is just very appealing. The chance to be in Bermuda is real plus too."

Warburg Pincus and Hellman & Friedman led the financing, investing $405 million and $225 million, respectively. Other institutional investors included funds affiliated with GE Capital, GE Asset Management, Trident II, LP, and Farallon Capital Management. Included in the financing, management co-invested a combined $13.15 million, including Mr. Ingrey.

Mr. Ingrey says the man behind the venture is Mr. Evans, the man who got the whole enterprise up and running.

Mr. Evans said: "It seems like a long time ago. Its been a race since October. Paul and I worked together for 25 years and we knew what we wanted to do, we knew what needed to be done and we knew the people we needed. And that helped a lot."

Mr. Evans added: "And times like this, when it is important to be quick to the market, those things matter. And we still have a lot of work to do."

Mr. Ingrey said: "One thing we have tried to emphasise like Dwight says, is the turnaround time. We want to respond to almost any proposal as quickly as we possibly can. Even if we don't have an interest in it."

And now business is booming with 12 staff already hired in Bermuda and 17 in the United States.

Mr. Ingrey said: "Well, everything is late. We are very late. The actual signings are way behind. Its not broker-competitive, it is just everything is in a state of unrest."

But he said that they were fortunate that when the investors put their money into Arch, they had some companies that were already in existence, so they didn't have to get formal approvals.

He added: "We had to reactivate a licence in Nebraska and the Bermuda company was established in June.

"And as smart as some people might think they are, they certainly didn't have this in mind. The market was limping along. It was still a little bit underwater pricewise in general. Rates were coming up a bit and then we had the worst tragedy that any of us have lived through."

And while the two men have seen little of Bermuda since arriving on the Island, there was no other place they would have set up in.

Mr. Evans said: "It was already a marketplace, but certainly the access factor, it was ready made, from a tax stand point."

Mr. Ingrey added: "Favourable tax referrals are definitely a reason, but as equally important is that it a nice friendly place to be and there is a market here."