managers, Bermuda-based William R. Storie & Co. Ltd. has jumped into the breech.

When InsWeb Corp. of San Mateo, California pulled the plug on the five-year-old RiskWeb on August 13, William R. Storie quickly established RiskBiz as an alternative. The forum now has about 250 members.

RiskWeb, which operated as an Internet mailing list and a Web site, has currently been restarted until September 30 as InsWeb wanted to give subscribers a chance to find alternatives like RiskBiz.

"While we have every intention of maintaining the RiskBiz facility, up until now we have done so for one reason, and for one reason only -- to safeguard the membership in the event that RiskWeb's existence, for whatever reason ceases,'' company chairman Bill Storie said in a release.

If RiskWeb is continued Mr. Storie said he was recommending RiskBiz membership continue to use that forum for discussion. Members have suggested he maintain RiskBiz as a separate private network for business-to-business exchange within the global insurance and related industries.

Mr. Storie said his company was now looking into the possibility of setting up RiskBiz as a not-for-profit network. William R. Storie & Co. is a management consulting company specialising in international insurance and reinsurance.