Keep the focus

Social and political unrest, terrorism, global warming and the potential for pandemic outbreaks on a scale not seen before are all worrying and very real risks that face us all, whether we are based in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America or Africa. But the individuals interviewed for this report are business leaders and so, whatever their personal concerns, the success or otherwise of the business that they manage is paramount. This focus on economic and financial realities in Asia is indeed refreshing and perhaps somewhat lacking elsewhere currently.hideAs editorial director of Rubicon Media, publisher of Commercial Risk Asia, Commercial Risk Europe, Commercial Risk Africa and International Programme News, I spend a lot of time hosting and attending industry conferences. We also host many roundtable discussions with groups of senior risk and insurance managers around the world and ask them what are the big risks that keep them, and their bosses, awake at night. During the last couple of years, I have found that these roundtable discussions and debates at our conferences and the leading industry events tend to focus on the really big picture: conflict in the Middle East, SARS, rising catastrophic events, the potential for the break-up of the eurozone and its global impact, and dramatic supply chain failures such as in Thailand and Japan in 2012. This leads to fascinating discussions of course. But increasingly I am finding myself among senior and very intelligent risk professionals who are beginning to resemble ‘rabbits in the headlights’, so paralysed by the potential scale of the calamity that is increasingly likely to occur that they actually fail to come up with potential solutions. The focus in Asia (and indeed Africa), however, seems to be somewhat sharper. Discussion at the Parima conference in Singapore in November showed to me that risk managers in this region are highly focused on what really matters: the need to use whatever risk identification, analysis, management and transfer tools that are available to protect the organisation’s asset base, whether physical or intellectual. Yes, the debate focused on the big matters that we all need to think and care about mentioned above, but the focus was sharply on what risk and insurance managers can actually do to help their organisations prepare and protect themselves from an increasingly uncertain future. Franck Baron, chairman of Parima, summed it up neatly as he commented on the WEF report: “The way risk managers can truly help their respective organisations is to prevent or mitigate showstoppers. It is one thing to have a great business plan, it is another thing to see it ruined or damaged by a catastrophe that should been avoided, prevented or better managed.” Well said, Mr Baron. Keep the focus. It is all too easy at such a fluid time as this to become that rabbit in the headlights, unable to make a decision because the options are too varied and the potential mistakes too scary. It is the risk manager’s duty to step back from all the noise, identify what the real risks to the success of the business are and help come up with the best options that prevent them from materialising or ensure they are manageable if and when they do occur. We hope that we at Commercial Risk Asia are able to help guide risk managers through this ever more complex maze and identify the real risks that need to be tackled. As part of this process, we are embarking upon a major survey of risk managers in the Asia Pacific region to complement the Risk Frontiers surveys that we already carry out in Europe and Africa. This will be carried out through a series of roundtable discussions with leading risk managers in the region, individual interviews and an online questionnaire that will be mailed to you all. Please do take part in this effort as it will benefit you all. Adrian LadburyEditor, Commercial Risk Asia Editorial Director and Co-Founder of Rubicon Media

Keep the focus

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