IRMSA ponders expansion into Angola, Botswana and Zambia through new Namibian chapter

Hendrik Thessner, President of IRMSA, stated: “Discussions on the formalisation of the relationship and establishing an office in Namibia are on the IRMSA EXCO agenda for June 2013 to further discuss and agree on the way forward.” Late last year Mr Thessner had told Commercial Risk Africa: “Discussions are in its infant stage and nothing has been formalised but we do have a joint realisation of the benefits to expands the activities of IRMSA beyond the borders of South Africa.” The new branch will be part of IRMSA’s wider vision of expansion, particularly as the Institute is seeing an increase in the number of membership applications from beyond its borders.hideJohan du Plessis, Chief Risk Officer at FNB Namibia, is currently in talks to head the new chapter and has been discussing the idea with members of the risk management community in Namibia. “I have engaged with risk managers from various industries in Namibia and they are all keen to receive an IRMSA chapter here,” he said. “There are currently some concerns that IRMSA only focuses on the insurance and banking sectors but there is a big need in other industries as well. I have engaged with the mining industry, which is keen, and I have made contact with our power supply providers which have a large risk department.” LIMITED NUMBERS While the insurance, asset management and banking industries are eager to form a risk management association, Mr du Plessis added the number of people that will join the association may be limited at first. “However,” he said, “We plan to resolve this by inviting risk managers from Angola, Botswana and Zambia to join us when we have functions. We have daily flights to Angola and three flights a week to Zambia so this is an avenue worth exploring.” Mr du Plessis revealed the intention is to begin holding breakfast meetings as soon as this year and introduce risk management training seminars to the industry. The Namibian chapter will aim for a membership base of 100 people. Mr Thessner said: “The demand for the value that IRMSA can add to individual and corporate members is the driving force behind the requests to expand IRMSA’s activities into Africa. Namibia is the ideal African country for IRMSA to take its first step into Africa, being in close proximity, with a stable economy and regulatory environment and also within the same Common Monetary Area as South Africa.” He added that Namibia’s close proximity to other strategic countries makes it a good springboard to spread the risk management work across the rest of the African continent. “That will be our first major objective that we would like to achieve in expanding our footprint outside of South Africa,” revealed Mr Thessner. Demand for risk management skills is high, particularly as risk management institutes in the rest of Sub Saharan Africa have yet to catch up with the activity generating from Southern Africa. “This really is an opportunity for IRMSA to expand into these environments and take our knowledge to the rest of Africa,” said Mr Thessner. Risk management skills are few and far between in Namibia and a risk management association could rectify this challenge. Nico Van Der Merwe, Group Head—Risk and Compliance at Namibian financial group, Capricorn Investment Holdings, stated: “Skills shortages remain a challenge in Namibia and especially in the area of risk management in banks. “An industry association could look at macro level interventions that would, the medium- to long- term, begin to create skills in the industry by formulating career paths, working with tertiary institutions on curriculum, and develop a skills pool within the country.” Jens Kock, Partner—Risk Advisory at Deloitte & Touche, Namibia, agreed a dedicated association could create greater awareness around the role: “This is what we need in Namibia. We need to create awareness around risk management then of course training—specifically director training. “I think it’s important we have such an institute, if possible it should be affiliated to South Africa as it may struggle at the start. It would work as part of a South African institute with minimal infrastructure in Namibia but maximum impact,” said Mr Kock. Mr Du Plessis added a globally recognised risk management qualification could also go some way in narrowing the skills gap: “We still struggle with convincing people to move from either internal audit or especially the market risk area with traders or back office staff, so I think when we do make it a formalised qualification and career path we will start to get more talented people considering it as a career. It will also give risk managers a professional status.”

IRMSA ponders expansion into Angola, Botswana and Zambia through new Namibian chapter

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