Aon launches Italian ERM team

Aon Global Risk Consulting (AGRC) has launched an enterprise risk management (ERM) team in London to support its Italian clients and colleagues.

Following initial work with luxury goods companies, the London based team will work with all sector clients and the Italian insurance industry to promote and implement the benefits of ERM, captives and risk financing.

The bridge between Italy and the UK is principal consultant, Michael Porteous, and new appointment Anastasia Grazioli. A business graduate and Aon Italy employee, Anastasia is now based in London to learn more from the team while working with client directors in Italy to transfer this information. The goal is for Anastasia, ERM analyst, to then lead the operation from Italy and train colleagues after her UK experience.

ERM is a strategic process that considers the threats and opportunities across all functions of an organisation that could materially impact its objectives. By weighing up the implications of key decisions, appropriate actions can be agreed and delivered to support the chosen strategy. It has to be a top-down process seeking to support executive management in their decisions regarding how to balance risk with reward in strategy making.

Michael Porteous, principal consultant at Aon Global Risk Consulting, commented: “Working with our Italian colleagues, this is our opportunity to promote the concept of ERM in a developing market. The unstable economic climate in Italy will put more focus on risk management to help achieve new company strategies and control costs. Embedding ERM in the culture of the organisation is seen as one of the biggest challenges for risk managers in 2009 so the team will bring their experience in the UK market to overcome these hurdles for Italy’s corporate enterprises in the luxury brands sector and beyond.”