Bermuda-headquartered international offshore law firm, Conyers Dill & Pearman (CD&P) has opened an office in Dubai – its first in the Middle East. The office is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a financial free-zone in the emirate.
Dynamic Market Opportunities in the Middle East
Mr Roger Burgess, the partner in charge of CD&P’s Dubai office, explaining the firm’s establishment in the Middle East, said: “Dubai’s rapid growth as a regional financial centre has attracted many of our international clients, and we felt that establishing an office here was consistent with our strategy of maintaining a physical presence near our clients and principal sources of business.”
He added: “As to the timing, the creation of the Dubai International Financial Centre with its impressive regulatory infrastructure is attracting increasing numbers of international financial service providers and institutions, and we felt that now was an ideal time to make a long-term commitment to the region.”
The Dubai authorities opened the DIFC in September 2004 and are promoting the zone in a big way as an international financial hub with aspirations of reaching the same stature as New York and London.
As for the insurance sector, Mr Burgess said: “It’s clear that the rapidly increasing economic activity in the Middle East and the rising standards of living here will lead to expanding levels of premium income and stimulate demand for a variety of insurance products. The more obvious factors are the major infrastructure construction projects in the region, the growth in shipping and aviation activity, the increasing demand for health insurance and, more generally, the expanding role of the private sector in the region’s national economies. All these factors suggest that the demand for flexible insurance solutions here will continue to grow and we obviously hope to participate in some way.”
Sharing The Caribbean Experience in the Middle East
He said that CD&P’s edge in the Middle East will be its experience and in the context of insurance, in particular, the firm’s knowledge of Bermuda which is one of the most innovative insurance markets in the world. He cited some insurance products which are well-known in the Bermuda market and which could be of interest in the Middle East region.
One is the captive/rent-a-captive concept, which particularly when set up through segregated accounts companies, has proved a very cost-effective method of enabling smaller enterprises to manage their own risks.
He said: “The idea of the captive insurer is well-known. In its simplest form, it is an insurer underwriting the risks of its parent or the parent’s group. The rent-a-captive insurer, which is also registered as a segregated accounts company, is one which can segregate the profits and losses of one of its unrelated insureds from the profits and losses of another. Bermuda has incorporated more than twice the number of captives incorporated in any other jurisdiction.”
Also, the excess liability/reinsurance market in Bermuda developed over 20 years ago initially to assist major international corporations find higher levels of excess liability cover and to meet the severe lack of capacity in the property catastrophe market prevailing at that time. The market has now grown to the extent that over half the capital raised in the immediate aftermath of the 11 September attacks was invested in Bermuda.
These activities have led to developments in the area of insurance securitisations and transformer structures which provide ways of transforming insurance risk into marketable securities.
Mr Burgess said: “Since the business of our firm is the practice of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands law, we hope our Dubai presence will stimulate interest in these jurisdictions, Bermuda particularly, in view of its insurance expertise. But having said that, we may be able to play some small role in developing the insurance market within the jurisdictions in the Middle East region, including incidentally the development of Islamic insurance products.”
Established in 1928, CD&P has offices in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, London and Singapore.
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“Dubai’s rapid growth as a regional financial centre has
attracted many of our international clients, and we felt that
establishing an office here was consistent with our strategy
of maintaining a physical presence near our clients and
principal sources of business.”
Mr Roger Burgess,
Partner in charge of
Conyers Dill & Pearman’s Dubai office
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