European risk managers prepare for FERMA Talks 2021

July’s extreme floods and the climate-crisis, the continuing global pandemic, hard commercial insurance market, cyber risk, geopolitical and supply chain disruption. These are just some of the topics on the agenda as European risk and insurance managers prepare for FERMA Talks 2021.

The mostly virtual conference, with speakers and panellists meeting in Brussels, will consider the overarching theme of resilience, how organisations can better prepare for a world in which shocks occur with growing regularity.

“From risk to resilience for me means how well is my company anticipating risk,” says Carolina Klint, managing director, Risk Management, Leader Continently Europe at Marsh. ”Are we anticipating risk in a meaningful way and are we identifying the short, medium and long-term risk trends that are coming our way? And what are we doing about it?”

“Many companies may have looked at issues of pandemics and had them on the risk register before COVID-19 hit, but never really measured the actual impact against the organisation. You manage what you measure. So the question is, are you forecasting and using scenario-based stress testing?”

How different departments within an organisation can collaborate to achieve the best outcomes is also important. “Does the risk manager have a seat at the table? Is risk, resilience and continuity integrated into the strategic plans?” asks Klint.