In terms of regulations, the congress will tackle issues such as the Reinsurance Directive, crossborder reinsurance, solvency regulation and standardization of insurance supervision.

Over the past year the reinsurance industry has faced many challenges, from broad regulatory scrutiny led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, to the most expensive run of losses ever from record hurricane activity in the US.

2005 will be remembered for the extraordinary number of natural disasters, with estimated losses of over U$50 billion to the industry. Some even say that Katrina, Rita and Wilma are clearly the largest insured loss in history.

Despite the challenges, the industry has managed to keep strong and has shown that it is resilient enough to keep going even in extreme circumstances and the Bermudian market has been able to establish new reinsurance carriers in a capacity crunch.

But in the aftermath of such massive losses, the industry now has to come to terms with the flaws which go right to the core of the way in which it operates. Catastrophe modellers, rating agencies, regulators, brokers, insurers and reinsurers are reassessing how business is being done and looking to find better ways of operating.

The Twentieth Annual International Reinsurance Congress, to take place between 11 and 13 of October 2006 at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, in Bermuda, is bringing together experts and key players in the industry to discuss what the future may hold for insurance companies around the world.

With its key theme ‘Has the industry gambled too high?’, the congress will spark debate around issues such as risk management, capitalization, contract certainty and rating agencies. It will also discuss business opportunities, increased external competition and new sources of capital.

After such astronomic losses, the industry is starting to debate whether the responsibility to pay for natural disasters should be shared with government, or whether a federal natural disaster pool could be the answer. Some believe that if losses continue to increase, natural catastrophes could become uninsurable, in which case government would have to take the lead and become the ultimate risk manager in such situations.

In terms of regulations, the congress will tackle issues such as the Reinsurance Directive, cross-border reinsurance, solvency regulation and standardization of insurance supervision.

Rating agencies will also be present to discuss why they got it wrong after Katrina and Wilma and the fact that agencies may be asking how companies arrive at their potential exposure and what the sensitivities were in their models.

Apart from learning from top industry specialists, delegates will have the opportunity to meet and talk to key players in the industry.

In previous years, the congress had representatives from major companies such as KPMG, Swiss Re, Bank of Bermuda, Transamerica Re, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Aon Re, Zurich Re, Bermuda Insurance Market, ACE Tempest Re, Deutsche Bank International, Bank of New York, Renaissance Re, Hannover Re, Converium Re.