If you don’t risk the question you’ll never find the answer-Comment

But, we make no excuses for this because the fact is that the news agenda has been dominated by insurance-based matters, not least Solvency II that is really hotting up as decision-time nears for the European Commission and Council of Ministers.

Of course Solvency II is directly aimed at the insurance market and not insurance buyers and risk managers for whom it is supposedly designed to protect.

But, a very large proportion of CRE readers own and run their own insurance companies in the form of captives and these will be directly affected by the new capital adequacy rules.

If the costs of captives are ramped up considerably as seems likely in both capital and management terms, many CRE readers will face some very big and tough choices about the viability of one of their key risk management tools.

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Also, as Peter den Dekker of FERMA rightly points out at every opportunity, Solvency II looks like it will raise the cost of capital for insurers quite considerably if it follows its latest proposed form and more so in higher risk lines – just the kind of insurance coverage that most CRE readers need to buy.

And, most experts seem to agree that the new rules will force another consolidation in the market and see the exit or at least partial exit of some important niche players.

When combined with a more restricted environment for cooperation caused by the arrival of the new partial block exemption ruling and even the possible breakdown of the subscription market over time, this could leave risk and insurance managers with a very different marketplace in a few short years.

It was no coincidence therefore that we decided to focus our first Risk Frontiers event in Brussels on Solvency II and captives rather than a purer risk management topic.

The quality of the speakers, lively debate and good turn-out of risk and insurance professionals proved to us that we had chosen the right topic at the right time and it was unashamedly about insurance.

And, we will continue to focus very sharply on this key matter over the coming months as the project takes form while the QIS5 analysis is carried out. By the end of the year most of the argument and debate will have taken place and it really will be time for CRE readers to start working seriously on their options.

For this reason the Malta International Insurance Conference, that CRE is proud to organise this year, and which will be held in Valetta on November 25 and 26 will focus on Solvency II and its impact on insurance buyers as well as wider market matters of key interest to risk and insurance managers.

We have some great speakers lined up and this promises to be quite an event for the European risk and insurance market as it heads into a new era. Block out your diary and look out for the formal announcement shortly.

Another key topic for CRE over the coming months will be global programmes and what needs to be done to ensure that risk and insurance managers are able to confidently manage their cross-border risks in an efficient and cost-effective way that complies with local regulations.

We will shortly commence a significant research project on this critical issue that is sponsored by Zurich and look forward to working with readers on this.

But this does not mean that we will ignore risk management as the year develops.

This issue is dominated by pure risk management news and analysis as we provide in-depth analysis of recent events such as the Institute of Risk Management Forum, SWERMA and Polrisk conferences in Stockholm and Sweden respectively.

Such coverage will continue in coming months as CRE will attend and report on leading events such as the DVS AGM in Germany this month, and AIRMIC in the U.K. and NARIM in the Netherlands next month.

And, we will also this month commence our first annual survey of Europe’s leading risk managers sponsored by XL.

This will involve roundtables around Europe and one-to-one interviews with leading practitioners over the coming months.

The goal of the project is to assess the state of the profession as the global economy tentatively emerges from recession and the role risk managers could and should play in this process, to identify the key emerging risks and the best ways to handle them as well as to investigate the key matters identified above such as Solvency II and the future of captives.

The survey has been designed to complement FERMA’s survey that it is currently carrying out and will be announced at its meeting in London at the end of September.

Our survey will be more news and issue-based and will provide the colour, predictions and opinion that we feel is our key strength and the reason why our newspaper and website has been so warmly welcomed this year.

We hope that you will continue to support us in these projects and help ensure that the European risk and insurance management community continues to develop and grow and above all continue to ask ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ to help raise the standards of the profession overall at this critical time in the European and global recovery.

As ever, please feel free to send any thoughts, comments or ideas to [email protected].