today for an international conference on captive insurers.

The IBC Second Annual International Conference on Captives will feature an address by Premier Pamela Gordon.

Registrar of Companies Kymn Astwood will deliver an address on the state of the Bermuda market covering new products, services and regulatory initiatives as well as a statistical overview of the market, an analysis of securitisation risk and the impact of recent mergers within the local market.

Mr. Astwood will then be joined by insurance regulators from the Cayman Islands, Vermont and Hawaii for a comparison of the major captive domiciles.

Other discussions today will include a seminar on how to design "an upstart captive'' led by John Neel, vice president of Central Georgia Health' system and an analysis of the future of feasibility studies for captives by Peter Willitts, senior vice president of Sedgwick Management Services (Bermuda Ltd.

Chubb Atlantic Indemnity vice president Lincoln Trimble will wrap up the first day of the conference with a discussion on how to develop "useful partnerships'' with reinsurers.

Seminars tomorrow will include: An in-depth examination of how, when and why a group captives should make a securities offering by Appleby Spurling & Kempe Partner Chesley White; A seminar by Scott Penwell, of US law firm Duane, Morris and Heckscher on rent-a-captives; and Structuring a captive for dissolution, by conference chairman and KPMG associate Malcolm Butterfield.

Wednesday morning's session starts with a panel discussion on the new products and services in the alternative insurance market and what they mean for captives.

According to IBC, "this discussion will provide an in-depth examination of the various -- and emerging -- types of alternative risk vehicles.'' Their structure as well as their function, will be analysed to determine how and when these vehicles are a good fit in a holistic risk programme and how they can used in conjunction with captives to strengthen risk management.

Among the participants in this panel are George Hutchings, vice president, underwriting, at Centre Solutions, and long-time captives expert Hugh Rosenbaum of Tillinghast-Towers Perrin.

Other panels on Wednesday morning include: Captives: The Next Generation; Are Employee Benefits in Your Future? Developments in the Lloyd's Market; and Effective Asset Allocation Strategies for Captive Insurance Companies.

IBC (International Business Communications) is one of the world's leading business conference organisers.

Among the other conferences it is organising are a captive insurance conference in the Cayman Islands from December 7-9, next year's Bermuda captives conference and conferences in New York on Offshore Funds (June 4-5), Global Risk Management Programs (October 10-20), Global Risk Management for Multinationals (October 10-20), Offshore Trust Services.

Sponsors for this year's Bermuda conference are KPMG, Ernst & Young, Centre Solutions, Deloitte & Touche and Chubb Atlantic Indemnity.

Exhibitors are the Bank of Butterfield, Bermuda Commercial Bank, the Bermuda Insurance Institute, Comerica Bank and Centre Investment Services Ltd.

Kymn Astwood GOVERNMENT GVT BUSINESS BUC