Insurer Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. is offering a scholarship that includes a commitment to employ successful applicants for a minimum of one year.

The scholarship is worth $25,000 a year to a Bermudian student entering either the junior or senior year of their undergraduate degree programme at an accredited university and includes a paid summer internship at Axis.

Students must be majoring in an insurance, risk management, actuarial or finance-related degree and those receiving the scholarship must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above.

The Axis Capital Capital Scholarship is being offered in conjunction with the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies (BFIS). The application deadline is April 30 and short-listed candidates will be interviewed by the Scholarship Committee in May or June.

Axis chairman Michael Butt told The Royal Gazette: "Perhaps one of the most positive things we can invest in is the future of the young people of Bermuda. As Bermuda has become more successful as an international business centre, so we have been able to do more things like this."

More than 60 percent of Axis' Bermuda-based employees are Bermudian, Mr. Butt estimated. International companies wanted to employ more Bermudians, he added, as that was advantageous to both the firms and to the country. "We want to see more Bermudian skills in our industry," he said.

"If you compare Bermuda with other financial centres like New York and London, then the pool of financial services skills here is obviously much smaller. We are never going to have the numbers to create a big enough pool.

"What we have got to do is make the most of the pool we have. If we can maximise the opportunity for Bermudians, then that will help to make society more stable and it's advantageous to everyone."

Information was one of the key factors in getting more Bermudians interested in a career in insurance and aware of the opportunities in the industry, Mr. Butt said.

"Often, people are intimidated because they don't know enough about the industry," he said. "People tend not to have enough information to want to take the next step."

In trying to address this situation, the Association of Bermuda International Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) was trying to give people an impression of what it was like for young people working in the industry through its Outreach programme through local media, he said.

Mr. Butt, back in Bermuda after travelling widely over the past two months, added that it was clear to him that the recession was being felt more deeply elsewhere — which he felt was a testament to the Island's international business sector.

"Bermuda has been successful in attracting international business to the Island," Mr Butt said. "Our businesses have been much less affected than other areas of the financial sector, so we are bringing stability to the Island."

Application forms for the Axis Capital Scholarship can be downloaded from the BFIS website at www.bfis.bm.