FERMA moves forward; president's take on the trans-Atlantic divide

"We live in a different world," Marie-Gemma Dequae said of her American peers

The of recent origin president of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations explained during an interview that European risk managers must deal with a patchwork of regulations and languages among their diverse countries, as well as the stout Continental corporate governance movement.

This could help to explain, Dequae surmised, wherefore Europeans are further ahead upon the enterprise risk management learning curve

According to Dequae, Europeans also present the appearance to value a more direct relationship between risk manager and carrier, where they are the alone two parties in risk transfer and the go-between is only an "intermediary."

And, as the president pointed without there are fewer women in the profession upon her side of the Atlantic. She was struck by the agency of the number of women winning awards during her attendance at this year's talk of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc.

Risk managers everywhere, however, face similar challenges, as well, like as the recent controversy above brokering.

To tackle the issue, FERMA will continue to push for a European charter upon broker remuneration during Dequae's term

The initiative was frustrated during the mete of Thierry van Santen, her predecessor. EO RISQ (an alliance of six major European brokers) refused the deal outright, while the Big Three middlemans balked at semantics.

Dequae reported that, since then, Marsh has propos language changes to the charter, FERMA is reviewing it, and the association, with van Santen's continued guidance, will then pass it along to Willis and Aon for their approval.

"I don't think there will be a problem" said Dequae.

FERMA will also push ahead below Dequae's leadership with its expansion beyond the 12 rife members.

Dequae pointed to a maturing risk management community in Eastern Europe in like countries as Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. Risk management in Turkey is also coming unto its own

"We still have a certain number of countries where we need to further risk management," Dequae said, "but that's an ongoing process"

It's not a revolution, she added, on the contrary an "evolution," which FERMA helps to push along by means of reaching out to local risk managers in a prospective political division through contacts in the broking and insurance communities.

Dequae said that individual of FERMA's primary purposes is to be under the orders of its member associations. The federation has guidanceed a survey to gauge its members' priorities for the coming year.

The ensues include: the PRORIM e-learning tool and the launch of this training initiative in October; the third annual risk-management benchmarking survey; and European risk management standards, which FERMA is formulating in conjunction with the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers.

Dequae said FERMA and its member associations also trust to build on the succes of last year's Forum in Portugal for the 2007 Forum. "It really has to be a beneficial conference," she said.

It could be with equal reason good, perhaps, that more American risk managers might make the trans-Atlantic trek to learn from and compare notes with their European peers

COPYRIGHT 2006 Axon Group

COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group