Bermuda To Host Two Business Conferences
Bermuda will host two major business conferences next month, promoting the Island as a blue-chip domicile to a global audience, according to the Bermuda Business Development Agency [BDA].
“The BDA’s efforts to raise the jurisdiction’s profile in order to attract more direct investment have succeeded in bringing both events for the first time to the Island in April,” the organisation said.
The Regulatory Compliance Association [RCA] 2015 Symposium is scheduled for April 22–24, and expected to attract at least 400 alternative investment and asset management executives to Bermuda.
The Transcontinental Trusts: Bermuda Forum, from April 26–28, will bring a further 150 delegates and speakers in the trust and private client industry. Both events will be held at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel.
Numerous Government, agency, and industry representatives will be featured guest speakers at both events. The RCA Symposium will include Premier Michael Dunkley, Minister of Economic Development Dr. Grant Gibbons, and the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s Director of Licensing & Authorisation Shelby Weldon, along with more than a dozen local lawyers and fund experts, while a joint welcome by the Premier and BDA CEO Ross Webber will kick off the Forum, which will also feature Chief Justice Ian Kawaley and at least 10 experts from local trust and law firms.
“Both these prestigious events will showcase Bermuda as a centre of excellence in these two important industry sectors, and provide opportunities for our local participants to network and build relationships,” said Sean Moran, BDA Business Development Manager for both the Asset Management and Trust & Private Client sectors.
“We’re also excited about the positive financial benefits of these events to our economy, from the immediate revenue boost for hotels, restaurants, taxi operators, and merchants, to the longer-term impact of future business that comes to Bermuda as a result of us being the host country.”
The BDA was able to secure both events for the Island through proactive lobbying and existing positive relationships with conference producers, said BDA Conferences & Events Manager Nicole Conrad Morrison.
“We have been providing local support to these groups and are actively involved as key sponsors for both,” she said. “For example, we have helped line up sponsors and give input on the agenda.”
Another important asset management industry event coming to the Island—this one in June—is the Global Fund Forum, organised by Hedge Connection. The three-day gathering brings together hedge fund managers and qualified investors for pre-arranged, one-on-one meetings, as well as interactive educational workshops and informal networking functions, including a boat cruise and beachside dinner party.
The event stages “The Pitch,” an allocation competition in which five fund managers present to the Forum audience and answer questions from a panel of investors on fund strategy and operations. The winner receives a cash prize donated to the charity of their choice. The Forum is in its second year, following a successful launch in Atlantic City in 2014.
“We chose Bermuda for our second event because it has historically been a centre of business for the hedge fund industry,” said Lisa Vioni, CEO of Hedge Connection, a marketing platform for hedge funds and a portal for investors that produces the Global Fund Forum. “
In addition, Bermuda is less than two hours from New York City and one of the most beautiful places on earth. The Global Fund Forum attendees want a venue that compliments their business needs, as well as offering a beautiful destination.”
This combination of offerings makes the Island an attractive proposition for such industry events, said Conrad Morrison.
“The BDA is actively looking at other top international conferences,” she said. “These established events, bringing influential delegates, have a huge benefit—not only for the Island’s business community, but also for our hospitality industry. We are working to attract more of these types of events to the Island.”
Last December, the BDA also announced its winning bid to act as host sponsor of ALARYS 2016, a biennial insurance industry conference set to attract hundreds of delegates to Bermuda from countries throughout Latin America, as well as Spain and Portugal.
The event marks the third time the Asociación Latinoamericana de Administradores de Riesgos y Seguros [ALARYS] has chosen Bermuda as host country for the trilingual conference; the Latin American Congress on Risk Management and Insurance was held here previously in 2004 and 2010—the only non-Latin venue in its 20-year history.
Work has already begun to make ALARYS 2016 as successful an event as the two previous ALARYS conferences in Bermuda, with date and location currently being decided.
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