Ferma expands into Norway

The Norwegian Risk Management Association (NORIMA) has been accepted as a member of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (Ferma).

This brings to a total of 20 associations from 18 countries represented in FERMA. Risk management associations from Spain (IGREA) and Turkey (ERMA) became members at the FERMA Forum in Prague in October 2009.

Peter den Dekker, the President of FERMA, said: “We are pleased to welcome the Norwegian risk management association, so increasing our representativeness of risk and insurance professionals at European level. We look forward to involving them in our projects and to our exchange of experience.”

Jan Granaas, the Chairman of NORIMA, said: “We have in our bylaws that we are seeking international experience and international cooperation, so becoming a member of FERMA is a natural way to go. The other thing is that many decisions about laws and regulations on both risk management and Insurance are discussed and decided on a European level and very often in Central Europe, Brussels or elsewhere, and we would like to be involved in those discussions as this will have an impact on or daily life even though Norway is not a member of the EU.”

NORIMA was formally established on February 13, 2009, but the association has existed on an informal basis since 1995.

Activity lapsed for a short period, but in 2002, Jan Granaas and one of the present board members, Kirsti Torgersen, started NORIMA up again.

StrategicRISK was invited along to the inaugural official meeting of NORIMA in March in London, and it was the first publication to report from the official gathering.

Members of NORIMA are insurance and risk managers from companies based in Norway, which can be Norwegian owned or owned or controlled by foreigners. The industry sectors range from oil and gas via construction to banks. Insurance brokers or insurance companies are not accepted as members. The only exception is captives. NORIMA is Oslo based and the majority of members are located in the Oslo area but members do come from various parts of the country.

With the admission of the Norwegian association, FERMA now lists among its members the national risk management bodies of all four Scandinavian countries. Jan Granaas says that before NORIMA decided to set up a formal association, he had meetings with DARIM in Denmark and SWERMA in Sweden and both indicated they are interested in a closer cooperation.

The next FERMA Forum, which takes place in October 2011, will be in Stockholm, hosted by SWERMA.