It is a company that, in the almost two years since it opened its doors, has increased shareholder equity by more than a million dollars a day.

AXIS Capital yesterday released its third quarter earnings report showing that the company had made $147 million during the three-month period alone.

But management also pointed to what the company had amassed for investors over its relatively young life with shareholders? equity totalling $2.68 billion as of September 30, 2003.

AXIS president and CEO John Charman (pictured) said: ?If you really look at what we have achieved, and bearing in mind that we were the first (company) to establish itself after September 11, from the time we were established on 20 November, 2001 to the end of this third quarter we have increased shareholders equity in excess of one million dollars a day.?

The company, which is now staffed by up to 280 employees throughout offices in Bermuda and on both sides of the Atlantic, said it attributed its success to a ?modern? approach to business.

Mr. Charman told that AXIS stood apart from its peers in that it was writing the same level of business with fewer hands on deck.

?This is the new age of business. We are the only to try and create a modern template,? he said, adding that the company had kept its numbers small through the use of proprietary technology platforms and outsourcing back office functions.

?We do not want to be famous for processing paper.?

Mr. Charman added that the staff numbers could easily be ten times what they were: ?The staff numbers are deceptive we could easily have ten times the number,? but said the company ?would not overwhelm itself by cost, infrastructure or people.?

Mr. Charman continued: ?Traditionally, in insurance and reinsurance five to ten percent (of the workforce) actually drive the value, the rest administer.?

Taking a new tack, Mr. Charman said AXIS was doing the opposite, but made it clear that while processing functions were being outsourced, decisions were made in house.

Although Mr. Charman said the lean staffed, technology driven approach was being applied to all of its operations, he added that this model was ideal for Bermuda.

?Bermuda is not an island that should encourage infrastructure.

?This high-tech approach works well. The very fact that we are on an island should drive modern solutions.?

Mr. Charman, a veteran of the Lloyd?s market, said he had been using this kind of approach since 1986 but that technology developments in the last two years had brought it to a stage of being a viable working model.

AXIS has seen rapid expansion of its operations with its branching out from Bermuda to having offices across the US, in the UK and Europe.

Mr. Charman said the company?s network of offices gave it a global reach.

He said with technology, the connectability between segments was ?absolute? and AXIS was now in a position to write business in all corners of the world.

?We have established beach heads in the major markets.

?We are a global business that can attract business from anywhere and we do.

?We no longer have to have a physical location, that is the difference between the old style and the new style of infrastructure.?

Although he said the company is constantly reviewing its physical locations, it was safe to say that it was ?comfortable? with its current network of international offices.