has established an office in Dubai to serve the Middle East, the Caspian states and the Indian Subcontinent.

The firm will operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with the official opening scheduled for July.

The Dubai office is being established under the guidance of , who set up the firm?s Singapore office as well as being instrumental in the development of the Hong Kong office.

The office will be run by who will assume the position of Partner. He will initially be assisted by , a corporate lawyer currently in the Bermuda office.

The DIFC will serve a region with 1.8 billion people (about a third of the world population) and a combined economy worth $1.5 trillion in terms of GDP, growing at an annual rate in excess of five percent a year.

The Dubai office will provide advice on corporate and commercial law, with particular emphasis on investment funds, private equity, project financings and securitisations.

The DIFC will operate in a highly attractive and regulated business environment that offers a zero percent tax rate and 100 per cent foreign ownership.

The office will also have state of the art technology and modern office accommodation, and operational support and business continuity facilities., chairman of Conyers Dill & Pearman said: ?Dubai has positioned itself as the financial service centre for the region. It has been successful in attracting major banks, finance houses, investment managers and international law firms.

?We have seen a steady development in interest in our jurisdictions from sophisticated organisations that have a presence in the Middle East.

?By establishing a physical presence in Dubai we are positioning ourselves to be able to offer those organisations timely support and advice on each of the jurisdictions of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.?Global Head of Compliance of Deutsche Bank, AG, has been elected to the board of directors of RenaissanceRe Holdings Limited.

His addition brings the total number of directors on RenRe?s Board to 11, of which nine are independent.

Board chairman James MacGinnitie said: ?Henry?s combination of regulatory and commercial experience with leading global financial services companies makes him an excellent addition to our Board.?

Renaissance Re CEO Neill Currie added: ?Henry?s knowledge, experience and professionalism will be invaluable to our Board as we focus on expanding our competitive advantages and continuing our efforts to assure our compliance standards at all times reflect prevailing best practices.?

As Global Head of Compliance, Mr. Klehm, 47, has overall management responsibility at Deutsche Bank for compliance advice, policies, training, monitoring, and internal reviews through a worldwide staff of more than 650 professionals.

Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2002, he was chief regulatory officer and deputy general counsel at Prudential Financial.