at two major conferences being held in Bermuda next week on the issuing of securities based on assets such as credit card transactions, mortgages, and insurance risk.

About 1,600 delegates are due to arrive on the Island for the two competing conferences on asset backed securities. The Investors' & Issuers' Summit on Asset Securitisation will attract 1,100 delegates to the four-day conference ending October 7 at the Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort.

Meanwhile another 500 delegates will be attending the four-day Bermuda Asset Backed Securities Symposium at the Southampton Princess over the same four days.

Top executives from some of the largest firms involved in the estimated $220 billion a year industry will be speaking at the conferences. They include executives of Credit Suisse First Boston Corp, Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's, Fitch IBCA Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Prudential Investments, Chase Securities Inc., and Salomon Smith Barney among others.

Asset backed securitisation refers to the use of the capital markets by companies to issue securities based on packaging such items on their balance sheets as credit card transactions, and automobile loans. The securities are issued to generate cash flow for the issuer.

The market started in the 1980s and has since grown to include such sectors such as insurance and reinsurance. While the market has been mainly in the US there has been a move toward a globalisation of the industry as companies in Europe and Asia look for new ways to raise money.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange is currently making changes to its regulations to attract the listings of such securities in an attempt to capitalise on the globalisation of the industry.

Technology is also changing the way the industry is operating. On Monday a company with Bermuda connections will be announcing in The Royal Gazette a new facility for processing and issuing such securities over an electronic network.

Moody's Investors Service managing director Brian Clarkson, a speaker at the Marriott conference, said in an interview with The Royal Gazette he expects the discussions will dwell mostly on issues in the market as a whole. Previous conferences tended to be about specific types of problems.

The short term issue -- one that has arisen over the past three months with the downturn in the markets -- is the growing expense for companies to issue asset back securities. Some companies are holding back from issuing asset backed securities until spreads come down.

Recent mergers and acquisitions of those involved in the industry will also be part of the discussions, he said.

BUSINESS BUC