The unwelcome arrival of coronavirus (Covid-19) has once again shown how essential it is for organisations of all types – private and public – to properly identify, assess, manage and transfer their critical risks. The very fact that we have decided to launch this weekly update on the latest risk and insurance implications of the virus shows that the business…
The average European risk manager may be excused for thinking that the call from Brigitte Bouquot, president of French risk management association AMRAE, for risk managers to play their part in the creation of a new social contract between politicians, business leaders and society to help tackles the world’s big problems, is overstepping the line somewhat. But we are not…
Employee benefits have become an increasingly hot topic for corporate risk and insurance managers in recent times. This is because companies involved in the European and international economy are fast waking up to the fact that real and lasting success can only be achieved by attracting and retaining the best talent. To do this, they need to offer the best…
The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China has received worldwide attention and is increasingly putting a strain on businesses. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The outbreak of any virulent disease presents the trading and shipping industries with various challenges, as was the case with…
In 1996, a 32-year-old woman died of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis after flying with a US carrier from Chicago to Hawaii. The Centre for Disease Control traced all 249 passengers and found that six of them, some as far as 13 rows behind the woman, had caught the pathogenic bacterium that causes tuberculosis. As a result of this incident,…
Supply chain risk has shot up the corporate agenda in recent years as the dual trends of globalisation and relentless pressure on cost control have posed a serious threat to the ability of apparently sophisticated, and well-managed, multinational corporations to deliver their basic product and service, on time and to the quality required. Recent events such as the Thai floods…
Outgoing Ferma president Jo Willaert believes the risk management community needs to rapidly professionalise and shed its association with insurance if it is to become the board’s go-to adviser on risk. In the four years since Mr Willaert became president of Ferma, digitalisation and advances in technology have helped change the risk landscape at an accelerated pace. This has had…
Michael Rüsch, recently appointed country manager for HDI Global in Switzerland, spoke to Commercial Risk Europe about the challenges facing risk managers in today’s rapidly changing environment. As the weather across Europe turns autumnal, it is hard to remember back to a summer of record heat. But for insurers and risk managers alike, the hot summer (yet again) was a…
The European risk and insurance management community will gather in Berlin for the Ferma Forum in November, as forecasts of a global recession continue to rise – largely driven by rising debt levels, escalating trade conflicts, and uncertainty. Combined with the rather more direct challenge of a hardening commercial and corporate insurance market in many classes, and an increasingly challenging…
Italians taking part in our Risk Frontiers Europe survey strongly believe they should maintain control of buying insurance for their organisation, and noted that their role goes far beyond buying cover at the best price. They agreed that a broad understanding of risk is vital to making the right choices for any insurance programme and is something that procurement, for…