One of the pleasant things about attending an event like the World Insurance Forum (WIF), from a reporter's viewpoint, is that you get a rare chance to chat with top-level figures in the industry off the record.

That can often lead to learning what people are really thinking, as opposed to the diplomatically constrained views you generally hear during an interview for publication.

For example, one of the many Bermuda executives in Dubai last week made it clear what he thought about Government's proposed workplace equity legislation and what impact it could have on the Island's international business community.

"It's just not workable," he said bluntly. "If they enforce it, people will vote with their feet."

The key to getting more locals reaching higher levels in international companies was to improve the education system, he went on to say. Basing recruitment on race and nationality was not practical for departments doing highly specialised work - hiring had to be based on merit and ability. Anything else would make the company less competitive in the global marketplace where it must battle for business.

And that is the key point. These companies are all international and some can be described as global.

What their bosses talk about among themselves is how competitive rates are in Asian emerging markets or how US catastrophe cover prices are holding up. Their focus is outward.

The reason they have chosen to base themselves in Bermuda is because of the business-friendly environment that welcomed them when they set up on the Island. A straightforward business decision.

If they start to believe that conditions imposed on them in Bermuda will make them less competitive, then they will relocate. An equally straightforward business decision.

And there is no shortage of rival domiciles that would welcome companies looking for a new home with open arms.

Dubai is one of them.

On the opening day of WIF, Dubai International Financial Centre governor Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman told an audience peppered with Bermuda's chief executives that the booming city intended to become a regional hub for the captive industry and would expect reinsurance companies to follow.

How ironic. Captives and reinsurers - the twin pillars of the Bermuda market.

Just three hours later came a press conference announcing that Bermuda-based Arch Capital had teamed up with the Gulf Investment Corporation to form a new Dubai-based reinsurer called Gulf Re.

The next day came news that Ace Ltd. had redomesticated its holding company from the Cayman Islands to Zurich, Switzerland. While that will change nothing with regard to Ace's Bermuda operations, it was a timely illustration that huge insurance companies can speedily change their base.

The writing is on the wall.

Undeniably, it's a noble aim of Government to try to help more reach Bermudians the higher echelons of international business management. In fact, many in the sector share that aim. But if companies are required by law to hire people to key roles on the basis of skin colour and birthplace, rather than qualifications and experience, then they are being asked to jeopardise their organisations.

They would relocate, rather than do that.

The door is already open for Bermudians with the necessary aptitude, energy and desire, to enter the insurance industry and work their way up. A better education system would give more locals the tools they need to take advantage of those opportunities.

If companies do "vote with their feet" then the opportunities they offer will disappear with them.

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Former Bermuda Governor Sir John Vereker was among the 400 or so delegates in Dubai. Since shortly after he moved out of Government House, he has been a director of Bermuda business insurer XL Capital.

Sir John was clearly swatting up on the industry he is now part of, listening intently at all sessions.

On November 2 last year, the day Sir John appointment was announced, XL's share price closed at $64.90. In the four-and-a-half months since then, the share price has plunged more than 50 percent, the company announced a fourth-quarter loss of more than $1 billion and the board has gone through the process of appointing a new CEO.

Talk about a baptism of fire.

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One of the key topics of the World Insurance Forum was climate change.

The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Studies director Dr. Anthony Knap and futurologist Dr. James Martin were among the scientists warning of the horrendous consequences of failing to take action to combat global warming activities.

It seemed particularly worrying hearing all this in ever-expanding Dubai, where the clanking sounds of construction could be heard all around.

Through my hotel room in the city's Burj district, I could see no less than 15 partially completed skyscrapers and 36 giant cranes, with more foundations being dug all around.

Where will it all end?