The Bermuda insurance market has fortified already strong links with North America?s largest risk management organisation.

A meeting last Thursday between representatives from powerful New York-based Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. (RIMS) and members of the Bermuda Insurance Advisory Committee (IAC) has paved the way for the Island?s insurers to step up participation with the organisation from what has basically been a once-a-year collaboration at the annual RIMS conference to a programme that will make Bermuda representatives available to RIMS members throughout the year.

Two top RIMS representatives ? president Nancy Chambers and COO Mary Roth ? were on the Island last week for their Latin American sister organisation?s biennial risk management congress (ALARYS) that took place at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel ? but took time out to meet with IAC members while here.

RIMS ? through its 88 chapters in the US, Canada, parts of Mexico and Japan ? represents about 8,400 risk managers.

Ms Chambers, who is elected as president for a period of one year, told that the members-based group, was constantly looking to meet the needs of its largely risk manager base. She said that Bermuda fit into that need as RIMS members were always looking for where they could find capacity for risk coverage, and were keen to find out more about the Island?s insurance market which she said was now recognised as one of the world?s leaders.

At the RIMS 2004 conference ? held in April in San Diego ? Bermuda industry leaders were for the first time invited to share that kind of information through an all-day panel discussion on the Island as ?the world?s risk capital?. Although Bermuda has had a lengthy, high-profile association with RIMS, until last year, the extent of that involvement was a Bermuda delegation heading for RIMS annual conference ? a must-attend event for those in insurance and held in a different North American city each year ? every year to man the Island?s booth and to network with North American risk managers.

In recent years, there has also been a Bermuda Government contingent and the annual ?walkabout? of the RIMS exhibit hall by Bermuda?s Premier.

But earlier this year, RIMS upped the ante for the Island by offering the chance for Bermuda?s market leaders to lead the all-day panel discussion. And now plans are well underway for Bermuda to have an encore presentation at RIMS 2005 in Philadelphia, this time presenting a case study of how to access the Bermuda marketplace.

But more than that, RIMS is now to make contact with Bermuda insurance industry representatives available to members throughout the year. Ms Roth said: ?We are more than the RIMS conference; we are an organisation that is running 365 days a year to get knowledge and information out to our members.?

The group?s chapters, which meet on a monthly basis, will now be able to request that an Island representative travel to them to make a presentation on one of two topics: risk retention financing through the Bermuda market or Bermuda: ?The World?s Risk Capital?.

The move marks the first time that RIMS has partnered with an insurance domicile to offer information to members. Chairman of the IAC insurance marketing committee Roger Gillett said through the years Bermuda?s involvement with RIMS had grown from attending the group?s annual conference to ?now being so much more than that?.

Ms Chambers said that the profile of the risk manager ? who has the primary responsibility of ensuring a corporation?s risks are covered by insurance or alternative risk transfer mechanisms ? had grown in recent years. In years past, a risk manager may not have had much face-to-face time with senior management. But that is no longer the case, she said, with the increased risks after the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as higher corporate governance regulations dictating that company?s have extensive risk management programmes in place.Indeed, some risk managers are now being given new job titles ? such as Chief Risk Officer ? in recognition of the important role they play in an organisation. And don?t expect to see risk manager?s lose their higher profile anytime soon, Ms Chambers said.

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