captives to its management books in the first quarter of 1995.

And the company has launched a major reassesment of how the group does its business, chief executive officer Mr. Gareth G. Bradburn, said yesterday.

Speaking at the opening of the group's 24th annual conference, under the conference theme, "Risk management at the Crossroads'', he said that the past year has been one of significant changes for IRMG.

He spoke of the issues which included the environment, natural peril coverage, piracy, violence, fraud and the group's overall approach to the transfer of risk.

He said risk managers are faced with a plethora of choices, "none of which his senior management will tell him two years down the line was the right choice with the benefit of hindsight''.

"In truth, there is seldom one right course of action, and invariably having procrastinated and lobbied over which direction to go, it's often too late as rates or market conditions have changed,'' he said.

It is for that reason that the last speech tomorrow -- the last day of the conference -- will be on crisis management.

But with changes and advances in the industry in recent years, IRMG has been forced to closely evaluate the scope of services being provided to their clients.

Mr. Bradburn said that not only have the needs of risk managers and insurance departments of large global industrial companies changed from an out-sourcing point of view, but many of the traditional risk transfer mechanisms have been questioned.

The difficulty in obtaining truly global covers at seamless terms and conditions continues to be a challenge, he said. An increasing list of restrictions in cover for natural perils, often in areas where cover is needed most, and the cost and unavailability of a number of specialised covers have all caused risk managers to reassess their position.

It is for those reasons that IRMG is conducting a major reassessment of the risk carrying vehicles and mechanisms utilised in the past with a view to expanding the services provided, being mindful of the quality and security.

"On the property side, as you are all aware, the directors of Hopewell voted on March 28 that Hopewell should cease writing business as at June 30, 1995 and be put into runoff, with its business in force at June 30 being transferred to Harrington International Insurance Company Ltd.

"This new company we have floated with an initial capitalisation of $70 million, but it will probably increase to at least $100 million within the next year.

"It will be dedicated to writing purely property, business interruption and a limited amount of marine business.'' The chairman of the company will be Mr. John Austin, who retired some years ago from the Mercantile and General Reinsurance Company Ltd. The chief executive will be Mr. Graham Brice and the treasurer Mr. Mark Haydon.

The company commences writing business on July 1, with combined property and BI capacity of $250 million MFL.

Mr. Bradburn continued: "The continuing search by major global players for more financially, as opposed to insurance, structured solutions for a number of risk managers has still to be resolved. This is due to the divide between insurance and financial products offered by insur ance and banking institutions, respectively.

"We have made a determined effort to overcome this by working with a new partnership set up between Swiss Re and Credit Suisse. Services will be offered in three main areas: Reinsurance banking -- providing a combination of reinsurance and insurance banking programmes; Traded insurance risk -- securitizing insurance risk, and developing insurance related derivatives; and Investment fund -- investing in insurance related ventures worldwide.'' Mr. Bradburn said the unbundling of the group's services and the emphasis on providing stand alone services on a consulting basis resulted in an increase of over 50 percent in the group's consulting revenue.