Building on the growing numbers of new captives incorporated in Bermuda in 2013 from the Latin American region, a delegation of leading Bermuda captive industry executives attended the Multi Latina Risk Management Conference in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this month, as part of Bermuda’s ongoing strategic initiative to source new business opportunities in the region and drive captive formations to the Island.

The conference, hosted by Pageant Media, boasted record numbers from a targeted group of high-level executives, decision-makers and risk managers from large corporations headquartered throughout the Latin American region.

Bermuda was the only domicile invited to attend. The Bermuda delegation led multiple panel discussions and roundtables in which industry representatives talked about captive formation, domicile selection, tax effectiveness, risk management solutions and Bermuda’s regulatory framework.

Eduardo Fox, Corporate/ Commercial, Trusts and Latin America Manager at Appleby, and leader of the BDA’s Latin American Committee, also spoke to the progress being made with negotiating a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Colombia and Chile and highlighted Bermuda’s 41 TIEAs currently signed, four of which are with Latin American and Iberian nations.

Robert Geraghty, business development leader, of Marsh Bermuda Ltd and Thomas Kelly, managing director of KPMG Bermuda, led the audience through the process of establishing a captive and the benefits of Bermuda.

Gabriel Rueda, general manager of Rueda y Barrera, based in Bogota, Colombia and a Bermuda client for more than ten years, spoke on his experience with forming and running a captive in Bermuda.

“Encouraging developments are that a greater variety of Latin American companies are developing interest in Bermuda. Historically, mostly large corporations have established captives in Bermuda, a trend that is changing as medium sized, private and healthcare companies are beginning to express serious interest in Bermuda Captives,” said Nick Frost, president of R & Q Quest Management Services Ltd.

Members of the Bermuda delegation continued onto Bogota and Medellin, where Mr Frost and Daniel Message, also from R & Q Quest Bermuda, along with Thomas Kelly and Eduardo Fox, presented to 40 plus insurance and risk management professionals on July 12 followed by various meetings with law firms, insurance companies and other insurance service providers.

Mr Kelly said: “Over the recent couple of years, Bermuda has had a very good run in Latin America. The number of new incorporations has been very rewarding and clearly demonstrates that Bermuda is the domicile of choice. We also noted a significant number of attendees from Latin America at the Bermuda Captive Conference in June this year, which we took as a very encouraging sign.

“When you add these two indicators to the very receptive and engaged audiences over the weeklong visit to Colombia that occurred last week, the clear signal is to continue to create the momentum in Latin America.”

The BDA’s Latin American Committee continues to work to build relationships with the region.