Facilitating the risk owners–Portugal

Every member of an organisation should play a role in the risk management process, they said at a roundtable held in Lisbon. “The risk manager is not going to deal with risks alone,” said Pedro Cupertino de Miranda, Risk Manager at retail and finance group Sonae. “He acts on a mandate from the board to employ technologies and tools with the goal of making sure that all directors and staff are aware of the risks that they are taking and the actions that can be implemented to mitigate those risks.” “The risk manager is not the owner in the risk management process,” agreed Mariana Lopes, Director of Financial Management and Risks at drinks company Unicer. “He is a facilitator, someone to whom the organisation goes to when risk-related issues emerge. He is a kind of psychologist, the person who will reassure people that decisions are being made after all the variables that could influence the strategy of the company have been properly taken into account.hide“The value of the risk manager is effectively acknowledged when the impact of his interventions have been felt by the organisation. It has more to do with soft skills rather than with technical knowledge, especially in global companies that are in a state of continuous transformation,” she added. The sheer range of activities performed by a global company means that risk management is impossible for a single professional, the participants said. Therefore promoting general engagement with the risk management process is possibly the most important task of the risk manager. “A risk manager cannot know everything there is to know about the activities of the company,” Ms Lopes pointed out. “That is why it is important for him or her to work as a facilitator. They can then identify within an organisation the person or persons who will be able to help on specific projects.” The risk management department must have the ability to spot threats where other professionals do not. This frame of mind helps to create value by enabling the firm to take advantage of opportunities without ignoring the risks they entail. “We in the risk management department have trained eyes that can identify risks that other people are not able to,” Mr Miranda said. “People are focused on delivering their goals and are not too concerned about what can go wrong. But we have this ‘tweak’ in our way of thinking where we put a lot of emphasis on risks, and we add value by doing that.” Risk managers also come to the fore when something goes wrong and an organisation needs to react. “There are situations where we add value by managing crises. Sometimes a risk materialises and something needs to be done about it. The risk management department must take a leadership position in the effort to address the sectors or services that have been affected,” Mr Miranda said. “Risk management, in the end, is delegated. There is this tendency to think that risk managers are there to actually manage the risk, but that is not the truth. I always make this disclaimer to other departments: what we do is to make sure that you are managing the risks yourselves,” he added. According to Santiago Martín, CEO of HDI España, who also attended the roundtable, consolidation of risk management departments in a growing number of Portuguese firms is a win-win for the companies and their insurers. “For an insurance company it makes a lot of difference, when taking a risk, that the client has a risk manager,” he said. “Brokers are an important part of the process, but the contact with a risk manager makes communication and the acquisition of knowledge about the activities of the client a much easier process. An insurer can discuss with a risk manager legal issues related, for example, to the employment of subcontractors and the responsibilities that they have. They can tell us whether there are arbitrage clauses in place and how the contracts work as a whole. Risk managers work closely with legal and financial departments and it is much different to deal with a company that does not have one.” He went on: “This is something that we see in particular where there is a loss. When we can work with a risk manager, claims are easier to manage. The internal communication process is swifter than when a broker is doing this job. If a risk manager is not around, there are surprises every day.” Further strengthening of the risk management profession in Portugal can be achieved by the work of representative associations, but it is important that risk managers engage with this effort and support it in numbers, the participants said. “Risk management associations do exist, but people need to come together and take part in the initiatives that the associations organise,” said Antonio Negreiros Fernandes, Secretary General at APOGERIS, Portugal’s risk management association. “Unfortunately, it is not always the case that risk managers get involved. For example, there are very few Portuguese members of Ferma. It is a challenge for the profession, but also one where we all have something to gain. At APOGERIS we encourage everyone to participate,” he said.

Facilitating the risk owners–Portugal

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