Bermuda will host some of the most high-powered and recognisable figures in the insurance industry this February during Bermuda Insurance Symposium IV, The World Insurance Forum, at the Southampton Princess Hotel.

Top business leaders will sift through critical issues facing the industry during a "round table'' discussion that promises lively debate at the opening of the four-day conference.

The panel will be moderated by Exel Ltd. director Michael Butt, and will include chairman of Lloyd's, Max Taylor, and EXEL Ltd. president and CEO, Brian O'Hara.

Chairman, president and CEO of Aon Corporation, Patrick Ryan, returns to the symposium with highly regarded observations after a period in which consolidation has changed the reinsurance and brokerage landscape dramatically since the last conference.

Chairman and CEO of Zurich Financial Services Rolf Huppi and outgoing chairman and CEO of CNA Insurance Companies Dennis Chookaszian are joined by chairman, president and CEO of Swiss Re America, Heidi Hutter, and chairman and CEO of Scor Group Jacques Blondeau.

Symposium chairman Robin Spencer-Arscott said he was pleased by the impressive list of participants confirmed for the event February 16-19.

That list comprises a "who's who'' in the insurance industry in Bermuda, together with representatives from top global firms. A respected group of moderators was carefully empanelled.

Symposium chairman Robin Spencer-Arscott said, "After the group of moderators had been chosen, they were allowed to choose their own panelists to join them in discussing the relevant issues.'' Chairman and CEO of Mutual Risk Management Ltd., Robert Mulderig, will moderate The Captive Concept -- Evolution or Metamorphosis, a session that will track the development of the captive insurance industry and focus on future creative uses of the captive insurance vehicle into the next century.

President and CEO of Commercial Risk Partners Ltd., Graham Pewter, is the moderator for a session on the consolidation that has taken place in the reinsurance industry. Stockton Re president and CEO Daniel Malloy will moderate a panel on securitisation of risk, including establishing the distinctions between capital market transactions and reinsurance.

President and chief operating officer of Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. Bill Riker is the moderator for a session on the evolution in the science of computer modelling and its use in the industry for pricing catastrophe risks.

Senior vice president of J&H Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd.

Joseph Peiser is the moderator for a discussion on integrated risk. The dialogue will focus on the integrating of multiple traditional coverages and non-traditional coverages into holistic risk financing structures.

Harold Moskowitz, founding partner of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, LLP, will lead a discussion on minimising and managing coverage disputes and the use of mediation and arbitration as opposed to litigation.

President of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., David McManus, will moderate a panel discussion on the increase in capacity and interest for the writing of excess and specialty business.

President of Jardine Matheson International Services Ltd., Harry Wilken, will lead a panel on the international business sector growth and diversity in Bermuda, and their potential attraction to a growing and diverse insurance industry in Bermuda.

And chairman of Western General Insurance Ltd., Peter Rackley, will moderate the last panel on the issue of why Bermuda is still a `hotbed' of new ideas and opportunities for business, and where is it going.

Robin Spencer-Arscott BUSINESS BUC