Bermuda took centre stage at the Captive Insurance Companies Association conference this week, with almost 30 industry professionals in presence at the event held in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Island was represented by 29 people from 15 companies, alongside the likes of the Bahamas, Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands, at the conference, which was attended by captive managers, insurers, accountants, lawyers and bankers alike.

The conference, which, along with the World Captive Forum, is one of two non-domicile specific events, was declared a success by Peter Willetts, chairman of the Bermuda Insurance Management Institute and president of Liberty Mutual Management (Bermuda) Ltd.

"This is really somewhere where we have got to come and strut our stuff and as you look around here, you have got everyone from the Bahamas to Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands here, and there are 29 of us from Bermuda and about 15 companies," he said.

"It is really the 'industry' conference - there is even a Bermuda Monetary Authority regulator (Suzanne Williams, assistant director) speaking on the regulatory panel.

"This is somewhere we need to be to keep Bermuda at the top of the industry as the gold standard for companies."

And Mr. Willetts said Bermuda will not be complacent and is aiming to build on its position as the world's number one choice for captives. "The latest Business Insurance captive report, which puts out its list of captives and gives all the domiciles, shows that Bermuda has only had a slight increase," he said.

"I do not believe that, because I know there are 70 plus new incorporations, which is a strong number, and part of why we are here is to overcome the perception that Bermuda is not interested in captives.

"It is competitive - as you look around here we are up against the likes of St. Lucia and others as well as all the off-shore stuff, so we have to be on our best game to continue to get our share as I see it.

"We know that we have got to keep trying and trying hard to stay there otherwise we are going to lose ground.

"People tend to forget, but a lot of what we have to do is go to these kind of events to actively get clients from the US."

The first day of the three-day conference included introductory sessions on Captives 101 and Risk Retention Groups 101, followed by a talk on segregated cells featuring Michael Burns, partner at Appleby, and what makes a good domicle from Nick Frost, senior vice-president of Quest Management Services Ltd. the next day, and with a tax update on the IRS regulatory proposal today.