Selling Bermuda as the world's risk capital - that was the task of Roger Gillett, chairman of the Bermuda Insurance Development Council, when he dropped in on a meeting of the Dallas Risk and Insurance Management (RIMS) this week.

For Mr. Gillett was the keynote speaker talking abut the Island's captive insurance market over lunch to a 230-strong delegation on Monday and had the chance to do some networking with the president of the Dallas/Fort Worth RIMS chapter, Jennifer Jones, and president of the Bermuda Captive Owners Association, Bill Baxley.

And he said the feedback was very positive, with a number of attendees from the third largest centre of major US corporate business registering their interest in Bermuda's captive industry.

"It was very good," Mr. Gillett said. "From my perspective, it went well and it was well received.

"They wanted to know about why people are forming captives and why they are doing so in Bermuda.

"Judging by the responses afterwards with people coming up to me and talking about it, I think it went well."

The speech itself, was a bit shorter than the ones Mr. Gillett usually delivers, but he was able to adapt to the new time slot to promote the Bermuda cause.

"This perhaps had to be a little bit more animated and entertaining and I think it was an interesting challenge and I think I was able to give a good picture of why people are still choosing Bermuda to set up captives," he said.

"The fact that Bermuda is still a leading domicile came as a surprise to a lot of people there, but you can see, as an Island, we have got more experience than other captive markets, a great regulatory system and a stable political situation, and, on top of that, we are also the world's risk capital, so why would you not form a captive in a place like Bermuda?

"I think it is something we should promote and when we do these sorts of presentations, the fact is that we are planting some seeds in people's minds in terms of Bermuda's captive insurance market and hopefully they will come to fruition.

"In general, I was just very pleased with the level of interest."