Estate and succession planning was among some of the hot topics up for debate when Bermuda's top trust and estate practitioners converged at a meeting held in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel.

The eighth annual Trust and Estates Conference hosted by the Bermuda branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners yesterday were given an opening address by Finance Minister Paula Cox, before hearing about the Bermuda Monetary Authority's (BMA)business plan for 2008, from its director of banking, trusts and investments, Graeme Da

That was followed by a presentation by Appleby's local group head and trusts counsel, Randall Krebs, who gave some useful tips and advice on and how to avoid the traps of dealing with estate and succession planning on the Island.

Ms Cox was keen to stress Bermuda's importance as a top global player and an active participant in international global finance.

"Clearly globalisation is here to stay and we can't buck that trend and Bermuda regularly participates in its forum," she said.

"Bermuda is just another word for opportunity and we have to continue to seize the opportunities in front of us.

"Our aim is to raise the bar in terms of the level, and trust practitioners and the level of expertise that we bring to that area, and to Bermuda as a premier financial services centre.

"The recently released IMF (International Monetary Fund) report set out a road map of actions to take and we have to follow that.

"Mr. Dargie then outlined the BMA's business plan for this year, which he believes set out the regulatory initiatives and business goals, demonstrates the Authority's commitment to transparency and builds on its high level of compliance with international standards.

These initiatives, he said, included the introduction of risk-based capital standards for insurance companies, the strengthening anti-money laundering supervision and the expansion of risk-based supervision in trust and International Bar Association sectors.

"We, as a jurisdiction, have a lot to do in terms of brining our regulations in line," he admitted.

"We have a risk model and we run all the firms that we supervise through that model, looking at risk impact and we analyse risk.

" We think we can take it further and be more risk-based and focused by changing the frequency of the visits in terms of how risk-based companies are. And we are intending to consult on that in the next few months.

"Mr. Krebs then gave a detailed overview of practical estate and succession planning, focusing on the power of attorney, inter-vivo transfers, wills, testamentaries and ownership structures, highlighting some interesting wills drawn up by famous people to illustrate the point further.

Other highlights of the morning included a speech on generational planning and the education of the next generation of trust beneficiaries by Patricia Angus, chief wealth advisory officer at Shelterwood Financial Services LLC, looking at cutting edge thinking on how to help families preserve and grow their wealth across generations, successfully managing jointly held assets, such as companies and trusts, effective family governance in theory and practice, education which helps trust beneficiaries and the respective roles of advisors and clients.

A panel discussion, made up of Paul Bailey, private client director at GAM, Martha Myron, senior wealth manager of Argus Financial Ltd., KelvinHastings-Smith, litigation and insolvency counsel withAppleby, and Allan Wiekenkamp, managing director of FORS Ltd., was then held on taking control of investment risk, looking at the risks to trustees when delegating their duties to investment managers and advisors and how to take control and manage those risks.

The morning's sessions were rounded off with a talk by Conyers Dill & Pearman partner Craig MacIntyre, focusing on trust and financial services legislation and cases in Bermuda and other international financial services jurisdictions, prior to the lunch speaker Michelle Wolfe, managing director at Butterfield Trust, addressing delegates about "being the best".

The afternoon kicked-off with a comparison between trusts and foundations, given by Rudy Buhler, director of wealth planning at HSBC Bank of Bermuda/Bermuda Trust Co. Ltd., who honed in on the mechanics and the different types of foundations, including characteristics and uses.

The rest of the day consisted a split between the advantages and disadvantages of Double Tax Agreements and Tax Information Agreements to Bermuda, conducted by Keith Johnston, director of policy and communications from STEP Worldwide, Wayne Brown, assistant financial secretary, Ray Hay, tax partner and head of Private Capital Group, Stikeman Elliott and Saul Froomkin QC of Mello Jones & Martin, and guides on the uses of Private Trust Companies/family office - private trust company structures, hosted by Peter Pearman, partner at Conyers Dill & Pearman.

It ended with a session on confidentiality in offshore financial law by Dr. Rose-Marie Antoine, professor of labour law and offshore financial law at the Faculty of Law in the University of the WestIndies and a UK non-domiciled tax update from Mr. Hay, wrapping up with a presentation of top student awards.