Bermuda will have a strong presence at the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) annual conference in New Orleans next week.

“Bermuda has always had a special relationship with RIMS, and I’m pleased to be joining my Ministerial colleagues and our insurance and business leaders at next week’s conference,” said Premier Michael Dunkley.

He will be joined at the multi-day event by Finance Minister Bob Richards and Economic Development Minister Dr Grant Gibbons.

The Island will also have representatives of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) and the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) at the conference, which begins on Sunday.

Shelby Weldon, director of licensing and authorisations at the BMA, said: “The Authority is pleased to once again be partnering with the BDA at RIMS — easily the largest and most important annual conference for the worldwide risk transfer industry.

“Increased competition, the prevailing soft market, and evolving international regulatory standards are all anticipated to be hot topics at this year’s conference and the Authority will be happy to answer any questions that prospective Bermuda insurers may have in this regard.”

More than 150 local industry delegates are expected to attend the conference, which every year attracts close to 10,000 risk management professionals, as well as senior executives and other decision-makers from a wide range of industries.

Paul Scope, chairman of Willis Bermuda and a BDA board member, said: “The unrivalled collaboration of the Bermuda public and private sector is never more evident than at RIMS.

“Volunteers from all levels of the risk industry, complemented by the Bermuda government delegation, provide a strong statement of how important international business is to Bermuda.”

Mr Scope said Bermuda’s substantial presence at RIMS underscored the importance and legacy of the Island’s marketplace and the critical role it played in the global economy. Notably, Bermuda’s reinsurers paid nearly 30 per cent of the insured losses from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast in 2005.

“Bermuda continues to attract quality capital to provide risk capacity to a global demand,” he said. “The latest wave is the ILS movement, but it goes back three decades to when Ace was established in 1985. Ace celebrates its 30th anniversary later this year and XL’s is early next year. Both Ace and XL have become huge global carriers and have maintained significant presence on the Island.”

A Bermuda networking event will be held on Tuesday evening at Club XLIV, at the city’s Mercedes-Benz Superdome, at which award-winning Bermudian band Mohawk Radio will perform a tribute to legendary local balladeer Hubert Smith Sr. The event, which brings together industry executives, will showcase Bermuda culture, history and traditions.