Around 60 of the world's top insurance chief executives and chairmen are meeting in Hamilton this week in the industry's highest-powered meeting of the year.

The annual general assembly of The Geneva Association, or the International Association for the Study of Insurance, will be held in private as industry leaders debate hot insurance topics and thrash out strategies.

The event starts on Wednesday and is being hosted by XL Capital chairman Brian O'Hara, who sits on the Association's board of directors. The debates are prepared in advance with the industry leaders and the help of outside experts. They lead to a series of background papers and comments that are later published by The Geneva Association.

Delegates will include AIG president and CEO Martin Sullivan and Swiss Re CEO Jacques Aigrain, as well as many leading figures from the Bermuda market. They will discuss major issues facing the industry such as the global credit crisis, regulation for financial services, international financial reporting standards and the European Union Solvency II standard for insurance companies.

Visiting industry leaders will be staying at Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort and Spa. Mr. O'Hara said at the new hotel's opening last month that the industry leaders would be ferried across the harbour into Hamilton for the meetings each day.

"This 35th General Assembly is by far the most significant event of the year for Geneva Association members, given the nature of the discussions which will be held behind closed doors for two days," Mr. O'Hara said yesterday.

"It is rare to have leaders of this calibre gathered in one location and it is only fitting that Bermuda, as a global (re)insurance market leader, be the central meeting place for them.

"We are fortunate to have a number of notable speakers, including Paul Atkins, a sitting Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, who will be speaking to the issues surrounding global regulation for financial services, and Randal Quarrels, who until recently was Under Secretary of the US Treasury department, who will provide his views on the global credit crisis.

"As chairman of XL Capital Ltd., I am pleased that this prestigious group will also be hosted at XL House here in Hamilton."

The Geneva Association organises or supports a series of some 15 to 20 conferences per year. These events are either linked to research projects or to additional specific research topics.