AMRAE focuses on cyber to help show value of risk management

Cyber risk is a hot topic in France, as elsewhere in Europe. Brigitte Bouquot, president of AMRAE, and her team are working to help French business combat the rising problem and showcase the value that structured risk and insurance management can bring to the table. AMRAE is working with the French government, as well as other important representative bodies and associations, to raise awareness over cyber risk and help develop a more joined-up, strategic approach to this critical threat. The association recently launched a cyber webpage for members in response to the latest global malware attack Petya, which allegedly emanated from a cyber assault on key industries and installations in the Ukraine. AMRAE has also produced a guide on cyber security with the CGPME, the French body for small and medium-sized organisations. The French risk management association says members need to ensure that they have a proper method to quantify cyber risks. This will help senior management understand the extent and nature of the risk faced, identify where investment is needed and how insurance can be used. AMRAE members are also advised to carry out regular crisis management scenario-planning exercises. Cyber risk provides a great example of how the French and wider European risk management profession can raise its profile and underscore its value to the rest of the business community. Ms Bouquot, who is also director of insurance and risk management at aerospace group Thales, told Commercial Risk Europe earlier this year that AMRAE’s key aim when it comes to cyber is to raise the profile of the profession and educate the wider business community about the value it can deliver. AMRAE’s second main aim is to close the “relative gap” between risk and insurance. Working with the insurance sector to develop more effective and robust solutions to cyber risk is crucial, it believes. Ms Bouquot said it is important that the risk management community uses the power of AMRAE to push for positive change within the sector, particularly in challenging areas such as cyber. “The insurance market needs to give proper attention to what we are asking for. This needs to be at the heart of risk management and reporting, and the individual risk manager needs to remain the expert in this market and use the knowledge and skills of risk transfer techniques to really add value for their employer. This is not something that is seen as a glamorous topic and when in discussion with the CEO or CFO, it can frighten them and has the reputation of being part of the old, failed world,” Ms Bouquot said. The risk management community needs to step up efforts to work harder and more effectively with the insurance industry, so it can blow away these old perceptions and show the real value of risk transfer, added Ms Bouquot. “I am concerned that industry in general is actually not sustainable without insurance; it is embedded within business. My dream is that we can all work together to deliver such a result in cyber, for example. This is a critical area – for national security and for the economy – and we need to work with the insurance market in partnership, just as we do in the aerospace market,” she explained. AMRAE has invested considerable time and effort into identifying how insurance can be used more effectively and retain its relevance. The French association has shared its work with Ferma at the European level. It has supported Ferma’s effort to develop a more cogent and consistent Europe-wide approach to cyber risk management and governance. This initiative is led by François Beaume, president of AMRAE’s cyber commission and chief risk officer of BureauVeritas, and Philippe Cotelle, head of insurance risk management at Airbus Defence and Space, as well as vice-president of the association’s cyber commission. Ms Bouquot is clearly proud of the fact that the French risk management community is leading the charge in this critical area for all European risk managers. “I strongly believe that because of our industry, French business leaders have been able to communicate effectively and identify the key challenges for all business and for the insurance industry. This is an ongoing process. A key element has been the effort to establish a common wording to identify what is actually covered and not covered. These are the building blocks,” she said.

AMRAE focuses on cyber to help show value of risk management

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