Bermuda will face some challenges this year at the 36th Annual RIMS Conference in San Diego. One is immediately noticeable by thumbing through the advance programme for the event.

There are no sessions, as there have been in the past, specifically designed to discuss the Bermuda market and its leading role in captive insurance. It wasn't for a lack of trying.

A countless number of industry sessions are presented during the week of the conference in various lecture halls, providing risk managers and other attendees opportunities to learn more about specific aspects of the insurance and reinsurance industry, or learn how other risk managers handle some general or unique circumstances.

Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood said, "People are not just looking for the basics, but are seeking the new and exciting developments in the risk management arena.'' But to host or mount a presentation, interested parties must first apply to the RIMS conference committee for the following year, almost immediately after one year's event ends. Last year, Bermuda hosted three such presentations after representations were made by the marketing committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee.

The Bermuda insurance industry's director of information services Roger Scotton said, "For this year I think we pitched seven or eight ideas, unsuccessfully.

"At the same time we also had a separate initiative going to put on educational seminars. We are going to be touring the various RIMS chapters around the US later in the year and taking special seminars directly to the risk managers who are RIMS members. For attending they get special education credits.

"So one chapter may be interested in hearing more about captives. We have a team of three executives from Bermuda who will travel to the relevant city and put on a presentation about captive insurers.

"These are educational, as opposed to marketing. We have two topics: one on captives and one on non-traditional risk transfer, which we are still firming up. "The captive one is firm. They've accepted the programme and the speakers. This will hit four cities in October or November.

"Now that might be why we were not able to get the kind of presence at the RIMS conference in San Diego that we've had in the past. Maybe it was thought we would have enough exposure.

"Ordinarily we would pitch about six ideas and maybe get two accepted. We didn't get any this year. Maybe it is because we had this educational approach going at the same time. But I don't really know.

"RIMS, after all, by its very nature is an educational body. It is there to educate its members and make sure these risk managers are worth something in corporate America.

"Many people attending go at it from a marketing perspective. But the organisation is fundamentally educational in its orientation.'' BUSINESS BUC