Amrae 2014: The road to professional recognition

Amrae published its first Risk Manager’s Professional Reference Tool last October, which provided the basis for further discussion about the development of a pan-European risk management certification programme. Those who attended yesterday’s ‘Risk managers towards international recognition’ workshop had a unique opportunity to discuss the new framework in detail.

The workshop’s chair François Malan described the framework as the first step on an arduous journey towards international recognition for the risk management profession.

The aim of the framework is to provide professionals and organisations with a clear and strong definition of what the risk manager’s role entails and of the potential responsibilities the role should integrate.

He said: “It is for risk managers to know what they should do, for companies to understand what a risk manager should be, for the managing director or shareholder to understand what the duties of a risk manager are and the meaning of their actions.”

Malan added that the framework will provide the groundwork for Ferma’s certification project, which aims to set out educational and training standards for its member associations.

Ferma vice-president Michel Dennery (pictured) and head of its working group on certification also highlighted the need for a definitive framework.

“Risk management is a relatively new job and is not yet well recognised as a key function in or outside of Europe. We used to consider it ‘insurance management’, but we now accept that it is much bigger than that and, actually, insurance management is different from risk management.”

He added that the insurance management role and the risk management role are drifting further apart and are generally separate jobs, even if under the same hat. “For risk management to be truly identified in different companies, frameworks must be well structured,” Dennery said.

The next step, according to Malan, is to promote Amrae’s framework to other national associations to adopt or modify.

On the subject of what Ferma is doing, Dennery explained that the certification project involves a two-tier system. The first level will be considered as ‘Ferma certification passport’ and the second level will be considered as a Ferma advanced certificate. It will cover the ethics of risk management, knowledge, experience and continuous professional development.

He explained that pre-existing diplomas and masters in certain fields of risk management will be recognised by the passport certificate. The advanced certificate will act as a way of recognising professional experience within risk management.