Organisers of the World Insurance Forum (WIF) yesterday invested $75,000 from proceeds raised by their 2008 event in Dubai in training young people for the Bermuda insurance market.

In a presentation at XL House in Hamilton yesterday, executive director Catherine Lapsley accepted the money on behalf of the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies (BFIS), from Michael Butt, chairman of the WIF Advisory Board.

WIF, owned and operated by non-profit organisation the Bermuda Insurance Symposium, is held every two years and the 2008 event was the first to be held outside Bermuda.

Many links were forged between Bermuda and Dubai, which is aiming to establish itself as a regional hub for captive insurers and reinsurers.

As a direct result, two representatives of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Hana Al Herz, senior manager of insurance and reinsurance, and George Oommen, executive director of insurance and reinsurance, have been in Hamilton this week meeting with representatives of Bermuda companies.

WIF organisers said they also intend to give $75,000 to the Dubai Foundation for Insurance Studies. Although the foundation has not yet been established, WIF has been helping to initiate it, with similar structure and objectives to BFIS.

Ms Lapsley said BFIS, which gives eight to ten insurance scholarships per year, was "extremely grateful" for the contribution. She added that the BFIS endowment fund was now up to $6.8 million.

Mr. Butt said: "I'm delighted that, as a result of the extremely hard work of event manager Suzie Pewter, WIF Operating Committee chairman Robin Spencer-Arscott and others, that we have had another very successful conference, the first to be held outside Bermuda.

"And because of that we are able to reinvest in the future of our industry by giving a cheque for $75,000 to BFIS."

More than 400 delegates from seven continents and 33 countries attended WIF 2008 at the DIFC.

The event, themed "West Meets East" attracted many industry leaders, from Bermuda and elsewhere, as well as guest speakers including former Hong Kong Governor Lord Patten and British futurologist James Martin, who has a home in Bermuda.

The next WIF will be held in March 2010 and organisers expect to name the venue later this year.