Attending the annual conference of the Captive Insurance Companies Association in Indian Wells, Calif., last week, I was relieved to see that even in these uncertain financial times, the world was still turning.

Yes, attendance was downby 20 percent, CICA saidbut there were will plenty of attendees and the exhibitor hall was sold out.The good news for exhibitors was that many of the 20 percent who didnt make it were vendors, according to reports I received at the conference.Exhibitors that may have sent four or five to the conference in the past, this year sent one or two. That meant there were more risk managers and insurance buyers in attendancewhich is, after all, the focus of the conference.

During the conference I spoke to several attendees who were there to shop for a domicile. One had a group of doctors in mind. He was carefully checking out domiciles and captive managers. I spoke to several risk managers of large companies looking to set up an onshore captive and several who already had a captive or two and wanted to find out other ways to use them in this market. Sessions on regulation and taxes were of interest to these attendees.

One captivecoordinator I talked to wondered out loud why anyone would use a captive for life insurance. I told him about a particular type of special purpose vehicle captive, popular with some of the larger life insurance companies, and mentioned a few domiciles that are popular for these captives. He immediately set out to speak to some captive regulators in attendance.

Clearly, interest in captives was high. The current iffy market didnt seem to have hurt the captive industry. From my conversations with regulators I learned that while new formations were down in some domiciles, they were up in others.

Projections are that the market will begin to harden by July 1 renewals, meaning some lines will go up in price, or be difficult to obtain. Those who have been in the captive industry know what this meanstime to get creative with new uses. It also means captive regulators will get busy thinking of new ways to make their state stand out among the 30 competing U.S. domiciles.

Its my observation that risk managers and buyers are savvier than ever. They can and will meet the upcoming challenges by attending conferences or doing whatever it takes to procure the best coverage for the best price.

My question to buyers is thisare you doing anything new, different or creative this year to make sure your company is covered?