Record Numbers Attend FERMA Conference in Stockholm

the bi-annual conference of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) got under way at 9:00 sharp in Stockholm’s striking new conference center. President Peter den Dekker, who will step down at the end of the conference, got things under way, welcoming 1521 registered attendees, a new record.

FERMA now has representatives from 21 risk management organizations from 19 countries. 436 corporate risk managers are also attending the conference – not quite the 500 den Dekker targeted in Prague, but nonetheless quite a few.

He reviewed the goals and the success of some of the projects undertaken during the last FERMA meeting in Prague in 2009. Progress has been made in harmonizing the increasingly complex rules governing global compliance, as risk managers, insures and brokers have gotten together to try and make the myriad laws, regulations and rules, including taxation, more coherent.

FERMA has also lobbied effectively with the European Commission on the implementation of the Solvency II regulations for the insurance industry, especially as they apply to captives. It has also made progress with initiatives aimed at internal auditors in order to improve and harmonize standards for corporate governance. Even the seemingly intractable problem of broker remuneration has been somewhat smoothed out with an agreement between the European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (Bipar) and FERMA to provide for greater transparency.

Den Dekker ended his opening remarks by reprising the position he stated as a member of the panel in a conference organized by Munich Re at the Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo. He said that while pricing for both insurance and reinsurance is important, for the clients, i.e. the risk managers who buy those products, the “most important factors are solutions and capacity.”

Topics Europe Training Development Risk Management