Key elements of global markets are converging in Bermuda, an association of women insurers heard in New York yesterday.

The developments were outlined to the Association of Professional Insurance Women by two Bermuda executives -- Roger Gillett and Sheila Nicoll.

Mr. Gillett, senior vice president of ACE Insurance Co. Ltd. said, "Bermuda is truly where things are coming together. It's where onshore and offshore come together and work in harmony.

"It's where banking and insurance concepts come together to solve the most difficult of problems. Securitisation has been a hot topic for the last two years. That will become increasingly important in the future.

"It's where the best of European and US expertise and practices come together. It's where scientific (computer) modelling comes together with the art of seasoned underwriting.

"It's where strong regulation comes together with rational business needs. By that I mean, where strong regulation is required, we are applying it. Where more pragmatic approaches are needed, particularly with regard to the straightforward captives, a different approach is used.

"These elements are not just coming together, but coming together conveniently and seamlessly in a very tight environment.'' Mr. Gillett, chairman of the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee (IAC), also told the gathering at The Continental Club that Bermuda was attracting significant expertise in the insurance and investment management markets -- establishing a cache of human talent that comprised some of the best brains in those industries.

He pointed out that while Bermuda used to be a net importer of ideas and innovation that were implemented in the Island, today innovations were actually occurring in Bermuda and being exported to other insurance domiciles.

"We've moved,'' he said, "from being an importer of innovation to becoming an exporter of innovation. And the same applies to capital.

"Before we were pure importers of capital, but now we are importers and exporters of capital.'' Ms Nicoll, senior vice president J&H Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., explained the history of the formation of such players as EXEL Ltd. and ACE Ltd. to fill a critical need for capacity for US corporations.

She said, "Their success has been a key reason that the market has done so well. It brought in established firms like Chubb and, more recently, Travelers, to form subsidiaries in Bermuda.

"People come to Bermuda to buy different lines of insurance. They are looking to us to solve their problems. We've got such a diverse marketplace now, the success is continuing to breed success.

"And these companies are now establishing global reach. Bermuda market companies are now the largest group of investors in Lloyd's, with ACE London being the single largest provider of capacity at Lloyd's.'' Her presentation discussed how major corporate players in the insurance and investment banking world were the ones who seeded the Bermuda market, infusing capital and top executives into the Island marketplace, ensuring corporate success and continued innovation.

"The Bermuda market,'' she said, "provides some 30 percent of the world's capacity for property catastrophe reinsurance.

"And again this year, the Reinsurance Association of America has determined that Bermuda is the largest reinsurer of the US market. More premium came to Bermuda in 1997, as did in 1996, than to London or Europe.'' Meanwhile, the IAC marketing committee's recent review of the direction of the Bermuda market identified a number of salient issues.

One point was that the Island's competition was not just other captive insurance domiciles, but also major onshore insurance centres like New York, Zurich and London.

And advantages of the past for the Island, like political stability, the infrastructure and accessibility were no longer things that set Bermuda apart from other offshore domiciles. They were now no more than "price of entry'' issues.

Mr. Gillett said that it was the coming together of various factors that make Bermuda what Standard & Poor's recently described as the "insurance laboratory of the world''.

He also dispelled the myth that Bermuda was just another tax haven.

He said, "All the captive owner tax benefits, particularly for the US, were removed with the 1986 US Tax Reform Act. It's been more than a decade now since there were actual tax advantages for captives to be formed in Bermuda.

There are virtually non, except in very, very special circumstances.

"Not withstanding that, every year, a third of new captives are formed in Bermuda. That's because the expertise is on the Island.'' The presentation also discussed the momentum of business development in Bermuda that has brought here other elements of the insurance and reinsurance industries, including the finite business, excess and professional liability, D&O, property, political risk, satellite and aviation.