Buberl calls for focus on public-private partnership for systemic risk

Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA Group, used the closing CEO debate during Parima’s Resilience Week today to call again for the creation of public-private partnerships at national and possibly also regional levels to cope with future systemic risks such as the current Covid-19 pandemic. A number of schemes to help cope with future crises have been mooted since the spring, notably in France, the UK, Germany and the US – all supported by national risk management associations. The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (Ferma) has pushed the concept of such national schemes, to be backed up by a pan-European solution, and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) has consulted on the idea. But the initiatives appear to have stumbled to a halt as national governments deal with the ongoing economic crisis and a series of second national lockdowns. Frederic Durot, ‎technical director of property and casualty at French broker Siaci Corporate & Specialty, has been involved with the interprofessional working group developing the scheme in France. He told Commercial Risk Europe recently that he does not expect there to be any further real progress on the initiative until the current crisis is over, partly to avoid confusion among businesses about what is currently covered and what is not. News from Germany and the UK appears to suggest a similar situation there. Mr Buberl though clearly thinks that these projects need to be accelerated rather than put on hold, as the world comes to grips with a new risk landscape and ever greater economic uncertainty. During the Parima debate hosted by chairman Franck Baron, Mr Buberl suggested that such public private-partnerships may also need to be extended to other difficult-to-insure systemic risks, such as the ‘cyber pandemic’ that he believes is inevitable. “New risks are emerging at the same time across the globe and these are risks that we have never seen. The question is: are these insurable via public-private partnerships? This needs to be worked on at a nation-state level and also regional level. This needs the hardest work because we need to find solutions on a public-private partnership basis for customers today, not in the future,” Mr Buberl said. Mr Baron asked Mr Buberl and his co-speaker Dan Glaser, CEO of Marsh & McLennan, what advice they could give Parima members looking forward to 2021, as leaders of large international groups. Mr Buberl returned to the theme of public-private partnerships to help deal the new risk environment. “Mindset is key. A lot of people are starting to become very anxious about the pandemic but we have to also look beyond this to broader coverage for systemic risks. There are new opportunities to think how solutions can be created, perhaps through public-private partnerships,” he said. “I personally find this a very exciting time; a chance to rethink what we do and how we do it. The key will be to work out the new public-private partnerships but also to get closer together, to manage the risks well and anticipate the next risk. A digital pandemic could be the next such risk and this is a question of not if it hits us, but when,” added Mr Buberl.

Buberl calls for focus on public-private partnership for systemic risk

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