Bermuda Captive 07, which starts today, is the chance for the Island's captive industry to shine.

That is the view of Jon Heckscher, vice-president and general manager of LOM Asset Management, who will be exhibiting at the conference running at the Southampton fairmont resort until Wednesday.

Everyone worth knowing in the sector will be there from service providers to regulators and insurance and reinsurance companies, according to Mr. Heckscher.

"I think that the conference is an opportunity for Bermuda as a whole including the service providers as well as the regulators and insurance companies that are here to show their value," he said.

"Bermuda has a unique position in the captive industry and due to the large reinsurers a lot of the clients that would normally get a captive are also clients that would need reinsurance.

"Some large companies here would have their own captive and most of those would also have reinsurance behind their regular plan of insurance, so a lot of those companies will have insurance and reinsurance needs that Bermuda already handles."

Among some of the big players in attendance will be the likes of AIG and ACE and with a turnout of 400 delegates expected, the conference, which is now in its third year, provides the perfect opportunity for businesses and clients to meet up and discuss their issues, according to Mr. Heckscher.

"What Bermuda's advantage is that, as a captive, once a year you are going to meet people that service your captive," he said.

"If you already know that you have to do that and you can also set up a captive here, Bermuda is the only insurance jurisdiction that has favourable captives as well.

"It is the only true insurance jurisdiction when you look at the big ones such as New York and London that is an insurance mecca that also has favourable captive regulations, so it is truly a one-stop shop to take care of all your needs."

Investment specialists, like LOM, captive managers, including AON and Quest, and representatives from law firms and banks will be on hand throughout the three days to address customer queries, but it is equally the pink beaches and fine golf courses which attract business to the country.

"It is our chance to show what Bermuda has to offer as a jurisdiction and funnily enough the pink beaches and golf clubs are other things that lure the captives here," he said.

Mr. Heckscher said, on a personal level, he was looking forward to keeping abreast of and finding out more about the latest developments in the captive market.

"For me personally I look at it as a chance to see what is new in the industry and top see how it is now through regulation because it is always an evolving market, so it is important for me to be clear and see what is new in the market and then that gives me a chance to adapt the way we look at asset management to better serve the newly-formed captives that may be better than the other ones out there," he said.

"Half the time is often spent exhibiting and the other half in individual sessions as a delegate, finding out what other people have to say and usually you get some good two-way instruction - people maybe say 'We are doing it this way' and you might say "We are doing it that way' and you pick up new ideas along the way.

"We take part in this as well as the down at a conference in the Cayman Islands because that is another jurisdiction where we have offices, so we need to make sure we are on top of that as well and we try and stay jurisdiction neutral and then there are also two events that are happening in the US that are jurisdiction neutral conferences."

The highlights of the conference include the Current Issues and Regulatory Update, the Captive 201 (a basic handhold through the whole captive process to learn about how they work), the Brokers role in Developing Captive Management Best Practices, the Segregated Account Companies (SAC) -the Real Benefits and the Considerations of Structuring an SAC Program, Measuring Captive Value and Performance, said Mr. Heckscher.

"In particular the Segregated Account Companies should be very interesting - they have been around for a while, but are more of a buzzword now, so that should be a good session on that," he said.

"Captive Value and Performance can be an interesting one for everyone because, once you have formed one, how do you value how it is truly doing and it is all about risk retention and the case studies are always interesting too."

From an investment point of view, though the current trend from total retention style accounts to current yield ones, will be one thing that Mr. Heckscher will be keeping his eye on.

"Within investment management you are looking at a lot of accounts that have been the total retention type, and you might want to look at being a current yield type, and that is just the product of a very shaky investment universe at the moment," he said.

"Although there is a lot of competition out there in the captive market, it is an industry that relies heavily on its competitors.

"But, mainly Bermuda and its businesses as a whole, need to get a little bit more attention because it has so much going for it and hopefully the conference can really grab some of that attention."