Ahmed ElAmin predicts they will leave the Island with plenty of food for thought.

About 600 high-powered delegates are converging in Bermuda this week for one one of the first major insurance conferences of the year.

The fourth World Insurance Forum begins at the Southampton Princess Hotel on a social note today and gets into issues tomorrow. The conference is held every second year by the Bermuda Insurance Symposium.

Robin Spencer-Arscott, chairman of the organisation, said because the conference is held every two years it attracts a lot of interest. Attendance is up ten percent over 1996.

"We try to be innovative and bring different viewpoints to talk about what's going on,'' he said. The conference is running sessions simultaneously, so you get a "bigger bang for your buck'', he said.

The first two conferences were held in May, but organisers switched to February, out of the tourist season, and participation increased. Many saw it as a good way to start the year.

"We have gone through a learning curve in hosting these conferences and we think we have it right,'' he said.

For the first time the conference is beginning with a round table discussion featuring eight top executives to give delegates the cutting edge views on the state of the industry.

The moderator of the round table discussion tomorrow will be Michael Butt, director of XL Capital Ltd. Mr. Butt was until last year the head of Mid Ocean Ltd. until it got bought out by XL Capital Ltd. (the former Exel Ltd.), another Bermuda-based company.

With Mr. Butt as moderator and XL Capital chairman Brian O'Hara on the panel, delegates can be sure mergers and acquisitions will be a hot topic of debate.

The state of the rapidly consolidating industry will be part of a more focused discussion later in the afternoon.

Scor Group chairman and chief executive officer Jacques Blondeau, who last year raised eyebrows in Bermuda with provocative comments about the Island, is sure to spark another line of debate.

Mr. Blondeau claimed that the Bermuda insurance market had all been a mistake and that it will "never, ever become a large insurance or reinsurance'' centre.

"When you look at the accounts today of all these pure (Bermuda) cat companies, it is absolutely pathetic,'' he said. "They are totally, grossly over-capitalised and they are running a very small amount of business.'' His view was that it was a market mistake to try to solve the temporary capacity shortage by establishing permanent structures in Bermuda. The population base of the Island was also a problem in attempting to establish a company on "a speck in the Atlantic Ocean''.

Now he's here to face his peers in the local market, someone is bound to question him further on what exactly he meant when he made the comments to Insurance Day.

Some insurance executives point out that the consolidations going on in the Bermuda marketplace indirectly confirmed what Mr. Blondeau was saying. Still ACE Ltd.'s agreement to pay $3.45 billion for Cigna's property and casualty business shows the continuing strength of the base being built from the tiny speck.

Forum lines up topical subjects, speakers `We try to be innovative and bring different viewpoints to talk about what's going on.' Robin Spencer-Arscott "I'm sure someone will ask him about the statements,'' Mr. Spencer-Arscott said.

Other panelists include Lloyd's of London chairman Max Taylor, AON Corp.

chairman, president and chief executive officer Pat Ryan, Zurich Financial Services chairman and chief executive officer Rolf Huppi, CNA Insurance Cos.

chairman and chief executive officer Dennis Chookaszian, and Swiss Re America chairman, president and chief executive officer Heidi Hutter.

Captives, consolidation, securitisation, integrated risk, managing coverage disputes, excessive market capacity, technology and computer modelling will also be debated during later sessions of the conference.

A special section focusing on Bermuda will give delegates a different look at the Island from the perspective of other sector players in the market.

Panelists representing other international companies, the Bermuda Stock Exchange, and the law firms will be speaking during the session.

Another session focusing on the innovative nature of the Bermuda insurance market is intended to give delegates an indication of what's ahead in the coming year.

Mr. Spencer-Arscott is president and chief executive officer of RSA Services Ltd., an insurance consultancy. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of AON Re Bermuda Ltd., a reinsurance intermediary he formed in 1993 after heading AON Bermuda Group.

Scor Group chairman and chief executive officer Jacques Blondeau, who last year raised eyebrows in Bermuda with provocative comments about the Island, is sure to spark another line of debate.

Forum's home: The Southampton Princess is hosting the World Insurance Forum this week.

CONFERENCE CON