Mr McRae is the principal economic commentator of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. He has won several awards for his work in the field, including most recently Business and Finance Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards 2006.

He will consider the macroeconomic implications of the credit crunch on the UK and global economy at GIF 2008, which takes place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference and Exhibition Centre, Westminster, London, on Wednesday 12 November 2008.

“We are delighted to have secured such a leading economic authority as Hamish to provide the keynote speech at this year’s GIF. It promises to be a talk which is topical, insightful and stimulating and should therefore dovetail well with what is a revamped conference format for 2008,” commented Richard Le Tocq, Chairman of the Guernsey Insurance Companies Management Association (GICMA).

The plenary sessions for the one-day conference are ‘Guernsey – The Innovative Risk Solution’, ‘Managing Risk in a Soft Market’ and also a final panel discussion ‘The Captive Clinic’ question and answer session.
Breakout sessions will cover topical matters such as Solvency II, benchmarking versus investment return, regulatory approaches to captives, documentation risk, enterprise risk management and employee benefits.

“We are confident that delegates will find this programme extremely interesting and informative both in terms of addressing topical industry-wide issues and showcasing Guernsey’s wealth of expertise and first class infrastructure for providing a range of insurance solutions to a global client base,” Mr Le Tocq added.

The conference will begin with registration and coffee from 8.30am and will then formally be opened by Peter Niven, Chief Executive of GuernseyFinance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, who will give a welcome address.

Mr Niven stated:

“We are very proud of the fact that Guernsey remains the number one jurisdiction in Europe for captive insurance. The geographical origins of captives domiciled in the Island are becoming ever more diverse and as such GIF has become increasingly international in nature. However, the UK, and London in particular, remains our principal introducer of business and so it is vital that again in the heart of the City we promote our excellence in captive insurance.

“This year we will be specifically highlighting how in particular Guernsey’s experience and expertise in managing captives makes the Island an ideal alternative location for establishing reinsurance operations,” he finished.

The conference is part of the ‘Achieving Excellence’ event series that Guernsey is hosting throughout 2008.