Bermuda has an opportunity to attract more European captive business at The 2nd Gibraltar Conference on Offshore Insurance this November, with at least two Bermuda insurance executives participating in panel debates.

Captive owners and managers, risk and insurance managers, investment managers and various consulting and professional service managers will attend to learn about developments in alternative risk financing.

Senior vice president of ACE Insurance Co. Ltd., Roger Gillett, will participate in a seminar on the developing role of offshore insurance centres in the worldwide insurance market.

Later, Paul Watson of Mutual Risk Management Ltd. will be part of a discussion on choosing between establishing a captive insurer or using the rent-a-captive option.

As the largest captive insurance domicile in the world, Bermuda has a high percentage of US captives, and as a market, has an interest in developing more business from the UK and Europe.

Gibraltar last year completed a complex legislative and administrative programme which has given the domicile more appeal to companies contemplating establishing a captive within the European Union (EU).

Other business Gibraltar expects to attract as a result of the new measures includes loss/financial reinsurance companies, international insurers looking for a regional base in the EU, and insurance organisations that need an EU offshore cross-border base.

The conference is being organised by Risk & Insurance Research Group Ltd.

(RIRG), researchers and consultants on risk management and insurance issues, and, Norwich Union (Gibraltar), a resident insurer that also manages captives and insurance companies.

The conference will include a detailed update on developments in Gibraltar's offshore market, the role of the investment manager for captives, whether risk manager needs are being met through alternative risk financing and the dangers of having a captive.

It also will address the question of which captive domicile should be chosen for multinational firms that have European exposures and how offshore centres will continue to do business in a changing tax environment.

The conference includes a day of golfing at Spain's famous Valderrama Golf Course, the site of the 1997 Ryder Cup won by Europe's professional golfers over their American counterparts.

BUSINESS BUC