The world of insurance will descend upon Bermuda at a three-day conference next week which has attracted around 400 delegates.

Bermuda Captive 07, the Island's own captive conference, will host global insurers and reinsurers at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel from Monday to Wednesday.

Jill Husbands, managing director of Marsh, who will be moderating at the event, declared herself pleased with the expected turnout.

"It is a very good turnout," she said. "Each year the event shows steady growth, which is what we will be hoping to achieve this year.

"We have lots of interesting topics including those leading edge subjects that captive clients are interested in hearing about - there will be talks on employee benefits in captives, which is certainly a hot topic.

"This year we have a special healthcare talk sponsored by ASHRM, which they have done for the third year running."

The third annual Bermuda Captive Conference will kick-off with the Bermuda Captive Owners Association (BCOA) breakfast and annual meeting first thing on Monday morning, followed directly after by a special session for BCOA members and prospective members to discuss the "Role of the Softening Marketplace".

The meeting will be moderated by J Heyliger, managing director of Willis Management (Bermuda), with industry experts, senior vice-president of Guy Carpenter & Co., Daniel Meyer, Marsh USA's managing director, Arthur Koritzinsky, and Dale Creech, chief legal officer from Premier Health Partners, sitting on the panel.

Finance Minister Paula Cox will address delegates, before an in depth "Current Issues and Regulatory Update", where moderator Philip Barnes, president of the Bermuda Insurance Management Association, and panelists Shanna Lespere, deputy director of the Insurance Licensing and Authorisations Monetary Authority, Tim Farries, group head of Trusts and insurance group leader and partner at Appleby, along with KPMG Bermuda partner Jason Carne, will debate the recent changes to the Insurance Act and Companies Act and how they impact Bermuda captives.

Attendees will also have the chance to hear from the regulator about the current areas of focus for captive regulation as well as an overview on how the increased attention being paid to Corporate Governance worldwide is affecting the management and regulation of captives.

The day continues in the same vein, with speaker Dennis Mahoney, chairman of AON Global, talking about the "Convergence of Capital and Insurance via Securitisation" before lunch and "Captive 201" leading the series of afternoon seminars, looking at what makes up a successful captive.

In particular, the session, moderated by Kilian Whelan, president of JLT Insurance Management (Bermuda), and made of a panel of William Noonan, corporate risk manager of Structure Tone, McDermott International's senior manager Christopher Ryan, Marcelo Ramella, assistant director of research at the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and A Backstrom, director of tax and insurance at Bunge, will touch on the current state of captives in Bermuda, how to build the right captive team, captive operations, monitoring effectiveness, the causes of failure and how to avoid it, retention setting and negotiating with the market.

Collecting reinsurance claims, handling multiple captives and exit strategies will also be up for debate.

Two further lectures, both sponsored by the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, will give an overview of the "Brokers role in Developing Captive Management Practices" and "Everything Old is New Again" - focused on identifying, evaluating and underwriting emerging enterprise risks in a healthcare captive that has been in existence in Bermuda since 1990.

The second talk will also centre on third party liability, Pandemic Flu and managed care Errors & Omissions as demonstrations of using SIR and the fronting captive for the reinsurance market.

A busy first day is then concluded with concurrent sessions on "Segregated Account Companies (SAC) - The Real Benefits and the Considerations of Structuring an SAC Program" and "The Final Pieces of the Puzzle: providing the Impact Management Results."

Tuesday will aim to bring the regulation of the captive markets up to date with "The Latest on US Captive Taxation" and "Measuring Captive Value and Performance" alongside "Audit Hot Topics" in the morning.

US Consul General Gregory Slayton is the lunchtime keynote speaker.

Delegates then have the opportunity to grill the investment specialists, including such banks and financial institutions as Butterfield Bank and Bank of Bermuda at the "Speed Dating with Investment Managers" event, which is on at the same time as "Meet the Front", where Ace and Arch Insurance Company will be among the names present.

A trade show including the likes of ACE, AIG, and LOM Asset Management will also be running concurrently with the main conference at the hotel.

For further information call 295-1596, email info@bermudacaptive.bm or visit the website at www.bermudacaptive.bm