In his first detailed interview with StrategicRISK since becoming Amrae president, Gilbert Canameras, explains his priorities for the future
The new president of Amrae, France’s risk management association, tells StrategicRISK reporter James Bray that he is pleased with the way risk management is progressing in France and believes Amrae is well placed to help it continue to advance.
“At Amrae we are working to formulate procedures that allow the discipline of risk management to evolve,” said Gilbert Canameras, who is also director of risks and insurance at Eramet, the French multinational mining and metallurgy company.
“Up to now the question was to conform to regulation for compliance reasons but companies are now realising that what was a restriction is now an opportunity. Risk management can allow a company to become much more successful.”
The quality of risk management, however, depends very much on the size of a company and where it places priority, he said. “In big companies, for example, risk management is already integrated in the running of the business. But middle sized companies are beginning to look more at risk management partly because of their links with bigger companies.”
He added that in order to be able to progress their careers risk managers need to be excellent communicators. “The personal qualities of the risk manager, especially that of communication, are very important.”
But yet again, Canameras said that much depends on the peculiarities of the company. “You can be a good risk manager, but you will be less successful if you are in a company that has communication problems.”
Overall, Canameras believes the future prospects for his profession are bright. “I think the profession will become more and more recognised,” he said. “In the near future the risk manager will be someone who is connected to the CEO or the general management and will give a global perspective not only of risks but also of how risks can be managed."
One of his priorities as head of the French risk association will be to foster better links between risk managers across Europe. “More communication with European risk managers is important as it allows an exchange of information, of benchmarks and the exchange of best practice which allows risk managers to be more efficient,” explained Canameras.
