The first FERMA European Risk and Insurance Report will position the risk and insurance functions in companies by showing the value that they add.

The report, which is based on the results of the 2014 FERMA Benchmarking Survey, will be released at the FERMA Seminar on 20 and 21 October in Brussels.

FERMA President Julia Graham

FERMA President Julia Graham explained that FERMA’s European Risk and Insurance Report is the result of the development of the FERMA Benchmarking Survey over the last 12 years. “FERMA is building on the previous editions of the survey to highlight how risk and insurance management fit into strategic management and help to sustain corporate performance. The new three part structure to the survey focussed on the profession, a peer group comparison of insurance procurement and practices, and FERMA’s priorities including the development of diversity.”

The 2014 edition of the survey, which takes place every other year in the spring, received a record number of 850 replies. Said Julia, “FERMA’s European Risk and Insurance Report will continue to provide a mature benchmark of risk management practices in Europe and from this, a tangible foundation from which to report about risk and insurance to senior management.”

The high level of responses to the survey means the results are ever more representative of the views of the European risk management community. “The report will quickly become a must-have for every manager and risk manager,” Julia said. “It offers risk managers the opportunity to benchmark their company against what others do in Europe and in the own country.”

Hans-Jörg Schill, President of the German association BfV, commented: “In my opinion this is the best and most worthwhile survey in the history of the FERMA Benchmarking Survey. The questions were well expressed and relevant, and overall the survey was broader and more general. The results will give us an overview of how other risk managers act and a picture of the state of the art.”

Sabrina Hartusch, President of the Swiss Insurance and Risk Management Association (SIRM) said: “This is the only survey on this scale that covers the issues that we want to evaluate.”

According to Gilbert Canameras, President of the French association AMRAE: “This year the survey was more complete and more relevant than previous editions.”

FERMA Executive Director Florence Bindelle, commented: “This was our most ambitious survey so far, and we are delighted with the level of response. We assigned our association members quite ambitious targets, and many of them devoted great energy to encouraging their members to participate. Our industry partners in the survey have also been helpful in enlarging the pool of responses by inviting their clients to respond.”

In addition to the formal presentation of the FERMA European Risk and Insurance Report, this year for the first time, FERMA has organised roundtable sessions where participants can discuss the survey results in more detail.

The Seminar agenda also includes risk manager-only roundtable discussions on a variety of other ‘hot topics’ and a keynote speech on climate change by Danish television meteorologist Jesper Theilgaard.

There is no charge for members to attend the Seminar this year in celebration of FERMA’s 40th anniversary.

Press contacts
Lee Coppack, FERMA media coordinator, at lee@coppack.co.uk
+44 208 318 0330/ +44 7843 089904.

Florence Bindelle, FERMA Executive Director, at florence.bindelle@ferma.eu
+32 (2) 761 94 31