Onwards and upwards

Peter den Dekker has had quite an impact at FERMA since he took over the presidency and injected a new air of urgency and optimism that goes hand in hand with his ebullient character. His rapid impact in the chair has also been helped by the rise of some very meaty pan-European topics that needed to be tackled such as Solvency II, broker remuneration and the block exemption renewal negotiations, and support from a talented group of individuals on the FERMA board. Mr Den Dekker remains convinced, however, that the main challenge that faces FERMA is the need to improve communication with the members, for as he clearly appreciates, there is little point in putting in all those hard hours on behalf of the national association members if they do not know anything about it.hide“We need to try and foster more involvement and tell member associations what we are doing. We started a monthly phone call with the association presidents to take their feedback on what the FERMA board is doing. This has been very effective and has proved a very efficient way to communicate with the members,” he told Commercial Risk Europe in a recent interview. “We are also trying to be more public with the use of position papers, press releases and the like to reach the individual members of the national associations so that they will hopefully realise the added value of what we are doing at FERMA for the local membership and can be assured that their interests are being looked after at a European level. This is helped by communication with publications such as Commercial Risk Europe and our website which we are improving. Personally I am trying to attend as many national conferences as possible so that I can meet individual members and explain what we are doing as well as giving speeches,” he continued. The hard work and huge amount of air miles that Mr Den Dekker is piling up is paying off he hopes as he says that he has generally a positive response from the members he meets at the various national events. But he is also convinced that more needs to be done and calls upon the national associations to step up their communication game too. “A lot of members have noticed a new dynamic and energy being shown by FERMA. But they still say that we need to reach out more to explain what we are actually doing. This is not easy and we need the help of the national association boards to spread the word that one of the benefits of membership of the national association is that they also benefit from a pan-European body that also looks after their interests. Remember that up to two thirds of national legislation nowadays comes from Brussels and we have raised our lobbying efforts considerably,” he explained. The lobbying effort is one of the areas that has really taken off in recent times and a critical part of that effort has been focused on making sure that the federation is talking to the right people in Brussels. “We have increased our lobbying efforts directly with individuals within the EC that are dealing with insurance and risk matters. So we know who is responsible and can deliver advice directly if needed. This has occurred with the Insurance Mediation Directive, Solvency II and the Block Exemption Regulation. We are now recognised as a real stakeholder in these matters and this is new. We are not necessarily forcing ourselves upon them but they are seeking advice and our input which is normal and healthy,” said Mr Den Dekker. “They need our advice at the EC because we represent the real economy in our sphere. This was a very positive change in approach and the exchange is good and benefits both risk managers and the European economy as a whole. And also it is important that the EC is able to hear the perspective of the risk management community and not just the view of the insurance industry. They need to know how we think and understand that we are passionate about this and can believe what we say,” he continued. And as the European Commission becomes more and more interested in this market and dreams up more and more rules and regulations that directly impact the risk and insurance manager’s job in all EU countries this effort will become yet more important. For this reason alone it makes sense for individual national members to turn up at their national meetings and FERMA meetings such as the one they are holding in London at the end of this month on the 29 and 30, and our own gathering of European risk managers and insurance industry professionals in Malta on November 25 and 26 to let Mr Den Dekker and his team know what you think needs to be top of the FERMA agenda in Brussels.

Onwards and upwards

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