The Bermuda Insurance Symposium reconvenes this morning at the Southampton Princess Hotel for a second day of deliberations on issues affecting the insurance and reinsurance industry.

Symposium chairman Robin Spencer-Arscot yesterday led off the first day of panel discussions by noting that this year's conference had attracted 30 percent more participants and speakers than the last one two years ago.

He said, "Our aim is to bring into focus the entire insurance industry as it is represented in Bermuda. The almost constant growth of new and innovative companies in Bermuda certainly makes our job simpler in providing new subjects to feature.'' The symposium was first held in Bermuda in 1993, and was last held in May of 1995.

Key topics during today's meetings include the convergence of the financial and insurance markets. The hot topic, securitisation of risk, will get a full airing led by one of the experts on the subject, Dr. Richard Sandor, chairman and CEO of Centre Financial Products Ltd.

Wall Street and Bermuda are becoming increasingly linked through the securitisation of insurance risk and the business of investment management.

More discussion on captives will also be featured during a session moderated by Brian Hall, chairman of Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Ltd. and chairman of government's influential Insurance Advisory Committee. There will be deliberations as well on insurance and reinsurance in the property catastrophe markets.

Some 600 participants of the biennial conference will also find out the identity of a mystery guest speaker from Washington D.C. at lunch. Attendees have already been warned that security will be tight.

The conference, which ends tomorrow, was opened on Tuesday night by Premier David Saul at a reception hosted at the hotel by Bermuda-based X.L. Insurance Ltd.

Dr. Saul said that with "Solutions For Global Risk'' as the theme of the symposium, he was confident that delegates would gain "a thorough understanding of the Bermuda market's unique ability to produce record results in soft markets as well as hard ones.'' He said Bermuda was constantly attracting new capacity and last year was the second best year for insurance formations here, with 97 new insurance incorporations, or a third of the total number of such companies formed in competing insurance domiciles. ------ Symposium stories, Page 17 BERMUDA INSURANCE SYMPOSIUM BUSINESS BUC