leadership in the Island's industry, and has named Brian Duperreault and the late Fred Reiss as the first recipients.

Mr. Duperreault, chairman, president and chief executive officer of ACE Ltd., has been awarded the BII market leader of the year for 1998. Mr. Reiss has been named as the first recipient of the BII lifetime achievement award.

The awards will be presented at the BII's annual dinner at the Southampton Princess Hotel on March 20. Mr. Reiss' widow, Debbie, will receive the award in his name.

BII president Larry Lombardo said the awards were created to recognise industry leaders who had helped drive Bermuda to become the third largest insurance domicile in the world.

The winners were picked by a committee made up of representatives of underwriters, brokers, management companies, the BII, the College of Insurance in New York, The Royal Gazette , and Business Insurance.

Mr. Duperreault was chosen because the committee felt he had made the biggest impact in the market during 1998, Mr. Lombardo said.

"He put ACE on a global platform through a series of three of four acquisitions,'' he said.

During the year ACE bought Westchester Specialty Group and formed ACE USA. ACE also purchased Bermuda-based CAT Ltd., bought Lloyd's of London underwriter Tarquin Ltd., and by the end of the year was in negotiations to buy the property and casualty insurance business of Cigna Corp. for $3.45 billion, a deal which was completed in January this year.

Mr. Reiss, who died in 1993, is widely hailed as one of the founders of the captive insurance industry and is credited with helping make Bermuda the largest captive domicile in the world.

He set up the Fred Reiss Group in Bermuda, coining the term "captive'' to describe a company that insured only the risks of its parent. The company later became International Risk Management Group Ltd.

BII director of training and education Peter Doyles said the newly-created awards will help raise the profile of the organisation. The BII has managed to maintain enrollment in its programmes compared to overseas organisations, with 35 people gaining internationally recognised insurance designations in 1998, a record.