Bermuda's international business sector was given an education in reinsurance at a seminar held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess this week.

The course, entitled 'Demystifying Reinsurance', which was held on Wednesday and yesterday and hosted by The Bermuda Insurance Institute, the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) and the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), covered everything from an overview of property and casualty reinsurance to the impact of reinsurance on financial statements.

Among some of the big players, including reinsurance firms, banks and financial institutions, represented were Ace Tempest Ltd., Allied World Assurance Company, Ariel Re, Axis Specialty, Flagstone Re, Max Capital Re, PartnerRe, Platinum Re, RenaissanceRe, Validus Re and Willis Re.

Marsha Cohen, senior vice-president and director of education at the RAA, declared the event a big hit among professionals and businesses alike.

"I think it was a very successful event," she said.

"We had 180 people coming to learn the basics of reinsurance and I think it was very interesting for them because reinsurance is so important to the Bermuda marketplace because of the number of reinsurance companies that are here.

"It gives opportunities for companies to send their people for continued education in reinsurance.

"All of the sessions were really very well received — they gave a broad array of topics and hopefully piqued their interest."

And Ms Cohen confirmed the RAA was planning to return to the Island to host future course in reinsurance.

"We do a whole series of courses in the US and this was our first in Bermuda," she said. "Based on the evaluation of this, I think we will be back doing a course in Bermuda and maybe next time doing more of a financial course."

The event kicked off on Wednesday with a talk by Leila Madeiros, assistant director and corporate secretary of ABIR, on Bermuda and the US Market, followed by an Overview of Property and Casualty Reinsurance by Conan Ward, executive vice-president and chief underwriting officer of Validus Re, including an introduction to the basic concepts of reinsurance, its purpose, different types and structures, markets and regulation and solvency.

It moved on to a speech by Phillip Pettersen, managing director of Towers Perrin Reinsurance, about structuring a reinsurance programme, where types of reinsurance such as facultative and treaty were considered and the information needed to design a treaty discussed, before Guy Carpenter & Co.'s managing director Myra Lobel tackled the subject of Understanding Property and Casualty Reinsurance Agreements, ranging from treaty wordings and critical elements to standard clauses and exclusions.

The day finished with Ms. Lobel getting delegates to carry out an interactive team exercise focused on the different aspects of reinsurance contracts.

Yesterday saw Ian Brannigan, senior vice-president of RenaissanceRe, give a seminar on the Basics of Catastrophe Modelling, from understanding catastrophes and building blocks of catastrophe modelling to the present perils and examples that exist.

The day was concluded with courses on the Impact of Reinsurance on GAAP FInancial Statements, Reinsurance from a SSAP Perspective and Capital Markets and Reinsurance.