"Charting A Path Through The Soft Market" will be the theme of an insurance conference featuring some of leading lights of the Bermuda market that starts in Hamilton tomorrow.

CEOs speaking at the two-day event at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess include RenaiisanceRe's Neill Currie, XL Group's Mike McGavick and Endurance Specialty's David Cash.

Joining them at the fifth annual (Re)insurance Conference sponsored by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers will be Axis Capital chairman Michael Butt and Ariel Holdings chairman Don Kramer, among many other leading executives.

Registration opens at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

The conference panels will focus on property/casualty insurance and reinsurance companies' strategies for addressing these key areas as they manoeuvre through the current operating environment.

Topics on the agenda include "Chairmen's View" on the practice of strong governance while meeting stakeholders' interests.

"The Changing Landscape of Bermuda" looks at how the Island's insurance and reinsurance landscape is rapidly evolving as factors, such as re-domestication and US tax legislation, Solvency II and Bermuda's goal of equivalence, and mergers and acquisition re-define the industry.

"Executive Perspectives on Balancing Growth and Risk" will feature C-suite executives exchanging ideas on what they think are the best strategies for increasing shareholder value in a risk-conscious manner.

In the "Cycle Management" session, the panel will discuss the strategies they see companies employing to address challenges such as pricing, earnings, reserving and catastrophe risk as part of cycle management

A session on "Enterprise Risk Management" will discuss views of the elements of an effective ERM programme, while the "Capital Management" panel will discuss how they see property/casualty insurers and reinsurers handling capital and earnings expectations while contending with issues, such as investment and asset volatility, the opportunity for share repurchases and the prospect of mergers and acquisitions.

"Although the challenges of the last few years may have receded from an overall economic standpoint, the impact and repercussions are still shaking out and can be seen across the competitive landscape," said Dan Grady, insurance and reinsurance partner, PwC Bermuda.

"The implications of this period are altering the fundamental way that many are approaching the business, and in some cases, may have led to a 360-degree review of operating systems, business practices and procedures.

"Those who emerge the strongest will be able to incorporate the lessons learned into a strategy that achieves a sustainable harmony of balancing risk with growth going forward."

Damien Magarelli, director, Standard & Poor's Insurance Ratings Services, said: "While the reinsurance companies overall, and to a degree, the property/casualty insurance sector, have fared better than many other parts of the economy, we believe they, as well as the industry as a whole, still face challenges presented by current market conditions."

"We're using this annual conference as an opportunity to look at the various approaches that property/casualty and reinsurance industry executives are taking to identify and address the risk and issues that will define their prospects for their future."

A full agenda and registration form are available at www.bermudareinsurance2010.com.