This brings the number of countries represented in FERMA to 13.
BRIMA was formally launched at a reception in March, when its CEO Stoian Lilov, presented the mission and goals of the new association. Lilov, who works for the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company in Sofia, had already become an individual member of FERMA in advance of the creation of the association.
FERMA president, Marie-Gemma Dequae says there is a lot of interest in risk management in Eastern Europe with a growth in new associations. Two of these countries, one of which is Bulgaria, will shortly join the European Union.
"By joining the European Union, these countries have a lot of regulations that need to be implemented and complied with. They have directives in intermediation, solvency and environmental issues, etc. There is also the new insurance directive, so Europe is going through a lot of regulatory changes on the risk management side, which for us in Western Europe have been in place for many years. The whole market approach for the Eastern countries is very new and FERMA is a platform for them to speed up their training and to organise risk management in their companies. We are a source of confidence for them," she comments.
