Comment - The bigger picture.

(From Reinsurance)

Byline: Henry Keeling, chief executive of reinsurance operations, XL Capital.

Just occasionally, a change of perspective is good for the soul - it is probably good for business too. Every now and then, as reinsurers, we need to be reminded of what our business is all about and, at the same time, take a reality check on where our industry stands in the greater scheme of things.

This year I flew to the annual bun fight that is the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous from a very different but no less thought-provoking event - the XL Capital Congress in Montreux, Switzerland.

The congress was a first for XL - a diverse affair, with speakers from all shades of the political spectrum discussing the theme of 'Thought leadership for a world at risk'. It was clear that the remit of the congress would extend beyond the minutiae of underwriting which would come to preoccupy us a couple of days later in Monte Carlo.

This congress was all about risk writ large - be it political, economic, industrial or environmental. The speakers were all heavyweights in their field. Dr Theo Waigel, former German Minister of Finance, gave us a health check on the stability of the global economy and its interconnected financial systems while Senator William Cohen, Former US Secretary of Defence, gave us a frank appraisal of the continuing threat of large scale global terrorism.

In contrast Dr Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute, and Cambridge Professor Noreena Hertz along with Mike Moore, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and a director of the World Trade Organisation, gave us painful examples of where the world - particularly the affluent and developed Western world - is getting it wrong in terms of economic development, healthcare and the environment.