Mr. Bryce: IPC was set up in May 1993, and we actually commenced doing business in June 1993. We were set up partially under the insurance company sponsorship of AIG, which is American International Group, and General Re, which is a well-known reinsurer in the United States, now owned by Berkshire Hathaway. IPC was originally called International Property Catastrophe Reinsurance Company, and was set up primarily to focus on catastrophe excess of loss. When we established back in 1993, there was an acute shortage of catastrophe reinsurance capacity following a whole series of catastrophic events which really started in the late 1980s with a repeated frequency of severe to moderate windstorms affecting Europe. We also had the Iniki Hurricane which severely damaged Hawaii, and quite frankly, the coup de grace was Hurricane Andrew which devastated much of Florida back in 1992. It was this series of events, in terms of natural catastrophes, which created a severe shortage whereby insurance carriers looking to buy cover, primarily against natural catastrophe perils, just could not find enough capacity. We were set up to satisfy that need, which filters down all the way to the needs of the man on the street buying wind cover or earthquake cover for his home from his insurance carrier, which, in turn, reinsures a portion of that risk to catastrophe reinsurers such as IPC Re. In March 1996, IPC completed an initial public offering in which just over half of the shares were sold by existing shareholders at that time. AIG, and General Re had, and continue to retain, their original shareholdings. We have just recently commenced our ninth year of operation, and we're probably in our strongest financial condition since the very first day we set up. We have in excess of 600 million of shareholders' funds, we have established a client base spanning the globe, which are basically all grade A, first-class insurance carriers operating in virtually every jurisdiction in the world. In terms of myself, I was actually the first employee of IPC. As I mentioned, IPC is affiliated with American International Group, and I've been working with AIG affiliates or subsidiaries for some 28 years now. So in terms of reinsurance, my entire career at AIG has been in reinsurance. Prior to that I was working on the commercial property and commercial casualty package business at another insurance carrier in New York City. So, all told, I've got about 32 years in the business, the bulk of that is with AIG. Half of my career has really been involved in US business, and half of my career has been involved in non-US business. In addition to working in New York, I've been posted to Japan, to Hong Kong, and prior to Bermuda, in the London market. I've been here in Bermuda just over eight years. We're here focusing really primarily on the property catastrophe business in virtually every cat territory in the world.
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