Top takeaways from PARIMA KL

Professional development, adapting to change, and stronger communication with C-suites were among the key themes from this year’s PARIMA Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Business risk management expert Steven Tunstall said the conference was valuable for those looking to widen their experience and learn about the risks of the future.

“PARIMA KL was the most rounded event to date,” Tunstall said. “The flow and connectivity between sessions made for an excellent experience for risk managers looking to both broaden their minds and accelerate the application of techniques in the real world.”

At the conference, PARIMA launched a Competency Assessment Tool, which follows on from its Competency Framework launched in Manila.

Tunstall, director of Tunstall Associates and General Secretary of PARIMA, said the new competency model would be increasingly valuable for risk managers looking to further their career prospects.

Tunstall said: “The PARIMA competency model opened to risk managers via the new web portal is a unique methodology for risk managers to future proof their careers.”

Tunstall believes risk managers need a closer alignment with C-suites in the coming years.

“In the future, risk and insurance managers need to be fully engaged with the C-suite on diverse topics, including sustainability and the development of nimble long term strategies.”

Tunstall warned that risk managers across the Asia-Pac region need to evolve and deal with international risks, in a rapidly-changing environment.

He added: “If you don’t change and adapt, the world of the 2020s will sweep you away. This is as true for risk managers to remain relevant as it is for anyone else.”

Franck Baron, Group General Manager Risk Management & Insurance for International SOS, and chairman of PARIMA, said the Kuala Lumpur conference demonstrated the “consistently strong development of PARIMA globally”.

The Pan Asia Risk & Insurance Management Association now has more than 2100 members across more than 1300 companies, in 23 different Asia-Pacific nations.

Baron said: “The scope of risks is constantly evolving, our environment is changing permanently, the future has never been so uncertain.”

He added: “We are members and partners of PARIMA because we share the same vision and ambition for the Risk Management profession, and it’s also because we are all convinced of the prime importance of risk financing for our organisations. Risk management and insurance being the two sides on the same coin called economic resilience.”

Baron said PARIMA would continue to push for professional development and greater influence on insurance markets: “The strategy of PARIMA is based on two pillars: the recognition of our profession as a path to excellence, and the influence on insurance markets in order to support the risk financing needs of our organisations.”

Baron said risk managers must become “even more fluent in the language of our respective business”, and “not just the language of risk”.

He added: “It is about how, as risk managers, we can change the way we raise risk concerns with the C-suite and the Board, and how we can raise the risk dialogue within the organisation.”