Developments in catastrophe modelling since Hurricane Katrina and how they have helped the industry face recent natural disasters such as Hurricanes Ike and Gustav were among some of the key talking points at Bermuda (Re)Insurance 2009 conference yesterday.

The two-day event, which was held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess with a bumper crowd in attendance, saw John Gibson, US property and casualty actuarial practice leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) US, Greg Hendrick, president and chief underwriting officer at XL Re, David Lalonde, senior vice-president of AIR Worldwide Corporation, and Matthew Wilken, chief underwriter at Argo Re, take to the stage for the first session to discuss the catastrophe season and modelling.

Mr. Gibson talked about the big hits insurance companies had taken on their balance sheets as a result of Hurricane Katrina and how estimates for Hurricane Ike from AIR and RMS had doubled from initial predictions.

Mr. Lalonde spoke from the perspective of a catastrophe modeller, saying it was important for companies to understand the context of what they were comparing, factoring in a full range of potential loss scenarios.

Mr. Hendrick and Mr. Wilken then discussed the merits and downsides of catastrophe models and the best ways to achieve results using various methodology, before opening up to questions from the floor.

The event started with a welcome speech by Darren Johnston, senior partner at PwC, and Grace Osborne, managing director and lead analytical manager for North American insurance at Standard & Poor's (S&P), highlighting the importance of the conference's theme focusing on "Finding the Upside of Financial Turbulence".