Twenty-five Chinese insurance regulators are on the Island to learn about the Bermuda insurance model through a programme sponsored by ACE Limited.

The week-long programme, which kicks off today, is being conducted by the United Nation?s World Trade University (WTU) in partnership with ACE and was said to be a learning experience designed to support China?s developing insurance market.

Bermuda was chosen as the place to host this inaugural session of the programme because it is a model of a well-established, leading insurance market.

This was according to the WTU?s president and CEO Sujit Chowdhury, who was introduced at a press briefing on Friday by Acting Finance Minister Michael Scott.

Mr. Scott said that Bermuda was pleased to be a host to the Chinese delegation, and added that both Government and the Bermuda Monetary Authority ? who will give a special presentation to the group on regulation of the Island?s insurance sector ? looked forward to ?sitting down? with the group.

Mr. Scott added that the decision to host this event here added ?further cach? to to Bermuda as a premier insurance jurisdiction?.

Mr. Chowdhury said the programme had been developed in recognition of the many challenges that face the still fledgling insurance market in China, but also took into account the potential opportunities for the giant nation with predictions that China will grow to be one of the world?s top three economies in the next two decades.

Mr. Chowdhury said that the programme could not have happened without ACE?s support, and certainly would not have happened in Bermuda.

Mr. Chowdhury said he was ?deeply moved? to be on the Island for this initiative.

?I am personally moved that such a rich place like Bermuda would entertain this programme. I am deeply moved,? he said.

It may be especially fitting that ACE is sponsoring the event as in 2002 it was the first foreign insurer to take a significant stake in a Chinese insurance company when it acquired 22 percent of the shares of the Huatai Insurance Company of China for $150 million.

Huatai was China?s first nationally licensed joint stock property/casualty insurer and the fourth largest provider of property/casualty products and services in China.

ACE?s president and COO Evan Greenberg said: ?As a global insurer, ACE is keenly aware of the potential of the Chinese insurance market. We have already committed to this future through our association with the Huatai Insurance Company. This programme will help us foster new partnerships, strengthen relationships and work towards our common goal of building a thriving, viable insurance sector in China.?

On Friday, Mr. Chowdhury said some of the hurdles China had to cross in developing its insurance sector were the development of insurance rules and regulations, public awareness, as well as strengthening its banking systems and capital markets.

This week?s programme in Bermuda, and a second three-day component to take place in London, will look at effective management of capital for insurance management and operations, insurance regulation, reinsurance, alternative risk transfer, the role of rating agencies and how they assess an insurance company, insurance fraud and product innovation.

The majority of the Chinese regulators visiting the Island are from the country?s main regulatory body, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) but attendance will also includes regulators from some of the Chinese provinces, including Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Sichuan.

Sessions, which are to be simultaneously interpreted from English into Chinese for the visitors, will be held at ACE?s global headquarters on Woodbourne Avenue with an opening ceremony this morning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the UN World Trade University, the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission, Huatai Insurance Company of China and ACE Limited.