REGULATION OF RISK MANAGEMENT:
AIRMIC and the London Market Insurance Brokers' Committee (LMIBC) of the British Insurance Brokers' Association have requested an urgent meeting with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to clarify whether certain group risk management activities will come under FSA regulation.
From 14 January 2005, the FSA will regulate certain insurance sales and administration activities for the first time, as part of the implementation of the European Union's Insurance Mediation Directive. It appears a number of AIRMIC members' activities could be among them.
We have expressed our concern to the Treasury and the FSA about the potential impact on group risk management operations if insurance provision and its purchase, sale and linked administration activities are brought within the scope of FSA regulation. We believe that a clear exemption for intra-group insurance business would have no public interest implications and would bring the UK into line with many of its European neighbours.
Note: There will be a special session at the close of the annual conference for AIRMIC members to discuss this issue.
RIMS: David Gamble and I attended the annual RIMS conference in San Diego in April and spent our time on relationship matters (AIRMIC and its sister associations), networking, attending some conference sessions, taking time out to discuss AIRMIC matters without interruptions and checking out the exhibition stands. There was even time for some sightseeing.
This was my first RIMS conference and my overriding impression was of an extremely well organised, even choreographed, event. As a business risk manager I would have liked more focus on business risk. For instance, business continuity was not well represented, which surprised me. However, there were sessions on corporate governance and (business) risk management that were thought provoking. AIRMIC's conference has the advantage of being a more intimate affair (because we are smaller) and of covering a wider range of business risk topics.
RM STANDARD: In a survey of council members, local authority chief executives, risk managers, procurement specialists and auditors (118 respondents) undertaken by the Public Risk Management consultancy, 81.6% of those responding are 'striving to comply' with the joint ALARM/IRM/AIRMIC risk management standard.
