With all that is happening in the insurance industry and the increasing demand for Bermudian staff, the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies (BFIS) has proven to be an invaluable resource. Columns for the next two weeks will look at what the BFIS is and the services it provides.

BFIS, the brainchild of Bermudian insurance industry leader Brian Hall, was created in 1996 to bring Bermudians into the insurance industry by ensuring they are well trained and well educated. Consequently, BFIS only caters to Bermudians.

While working in the industry, Hall noticed the lack of Bermudian talent and decided to do something about it. He devised the concept for BFIS then went to several senior executives in the industry to present his idea and to solicit their support to help him get the concept off the ground. The challenge he threw out to them was to create an educational solution for insurance-oriented professional training programmes to equip Bermudians with the basic skills necessary to make it in Bermuda's rapidly changing industry. Within months both corporations and individuals had pledged between $4 million and $5 million over a five year period and BFIS was up and running.

Most of the funding for BFIS comes in pledges and BFIS now boasts a long list of donors - apart from ACE and XL who both have pledged in the millions, the majority of the pledges are between $100,000 to $250,000 over a five year period.

BFIS is well supported by the industry as well as by some individuals who personally contribute. The donor list is not limited to insurance companies as many of its donors come from those who benefit from the insurance industry including lawyers and accountants. It is interesting to note that the donor list is not exclusive to companies domiciled in Bermuda but also includes companies overseas that have benefited from the Bermuda industry including such companies as Mellon Bank and DLJ.

BFIS was designed to act as a private sector, non-profit organisation to develop, coordinate and generally oversee the availability, direction and funding of education resources vital to the future of the Bermuda insurance industry.

Catherine Lapsley who is its executive director runs BFIS on a day-to-day basis. Anyone who has ever been to BFIS will readily agree that Mrs. Lapsley is thorough, enthusiastic and works hard to make sure BFIS is fully functional and operational such that it can provide the services to those who need it.

Mrs. Lapsley has a strong background in advertising and therefore enjoys all aspects of her job because she is allowed to use her creative skills to maintain the website, design press releases, record notes, and to participate in fundraising activities amongst her other chores.

BFIS operates using a variety of boards including the advisory trustees board, trustees board, a steering committee, careers committee, finance committee, fundraising committee, marketing committee and scholarships committee. People that serve on these committees are all volunteers and are representative of the industry. Mrs. Lapsley sits on all of these boards and therefore has extensive insight into the direction of BFIS.

If BFIS has a specific project that it is working on, Mrs. Lapsley will bring in someone to help her out. BFIS also gets a lot of pro bono help from the industry and those who benefit from it particularly in the areas of auditing and accounting.

BFIS is active in developing and offering four separate programmes: scholarships, professional designation education, MBA (Risk Management) Programme, Mentor Programme and a Summer Intern Programme.

The first is a scholarship programme for Bermudian students taking the Associate in Business Administration, with an Insurance major at the Bermuda College (a 2 year course). BFIS was originally formed to assist students to attend the Bermuda College then complete their Bachelor's Degree at the College of Insurance. The curriculum at the Bermuda College was set up to ensure credits earned by students there could be transferred seamlessly to the College of Insurance, thereby enabling students to compete their coursework in four years.

However, two of the first students to enrol in the programme decided they wanted to attend the University of Hartford and not the College. BFIS then adjusted the rules to accommodate these students and others who wished to attend the University of Hartford. Students must maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average in order to remain eligible for full scholarships.

BFIS also was originally designed to accommodate only those students studying Insurance and Risk Management. In direct response to the changing needs of the Bermuda insurance industry, BFIS expanded the eligibility of students to include those majoring in actuarial science then finance and last year, allowed students studying economics and mathematics. BFIS only awards scholarships to students in their junior and senior years of University because according to Mrs. Lapsley, students have often made up their minds what they want to major in by their junior year. Freshman and sophomore students tend not to know whether they have chosen the right major and therefore BFIS prefers the student to mature before offering scholarships.

Originally BFIS set up a mentor program for scholarship holders and also found them internships for the summer months. It was quickly discovered that there were a number of students who did not qualify for scholarships but needed a mentor or at least someone to discuss their career concerns and options with. Once again BFIS responded to the needs of its student base and expanded the mentor programme to all.

Secondly, BFIS supports and works with the Bermuda Insurance Institute to ensure that a broad range of professional development programmes are offered to those seeking professional designations. These include the Bermuda Insurance Diploma, the Chartered Insurance Institute designation, the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters and Associates in Risk Management and Reinsurance.

Thirdly, BFIS provides partial funding and support to the MBA (Risk Management) graduate study programme taught by The New York College of Insurance at the Bermuda Insurance Institute.

Fourthly, BFIS offers the Bermuda Scholars Programme, which allows overseas students the opportunity to learn about the Bermuda insurance industry. Bermudian students have also taken part in this initiative. BFIS is now looking into setting up summer internships to allow Bermudian students to gain experience overseas.

Next week, we will continue our discussion on BFIS. The above information is extracted from the book I am working on for the Bermuda international insurance industry.

Cathy Duffy is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and is now a freelance writer. She is a former executive of Zurich Global Energy and has 15 years experience in the insurance industry.

She writes on insurance issues in The Royal Gazette every Monday. Feedback crduffycwbda.bm