Despite rising profile, European risk managers face obstacles: Survey

BRUSSELS — The profile of risk managers within their organizations in Europe is rising, but more frequent collaboration with top management is needed in some companies, according to the Federation of European Risk Management Association's risk benchmarking survey published Monday.

And risk managers expressed a low level of satisfaction with the mitigation tools available for the top 10 risks that “keep the CEO awake at night.”

The survey, the 7th such conducted by FERMA since 2002, received 850 responses from risk managers from 21 countries in Europe.

A large majority of respondents — 84% — said they report to the board or top management within their companies.

But only 45% of respondents said such reporting took place “several times a year.”

In order to boost the profile of risk management within their companies, risk managers should aim to report on risk on a “more continual basis,” noted Sebastien Rimbert, a senior manager at EY Advisory in Paris, in a session commenting on the survey's findings.

The survey showed that many of the biggest risks faced by companies are “intangible,” noted Cristina Martinez, a board director at FERMA.

The top 10 risks that respondents said kept their boards awake at night were: political/government intervention, legal and regulatory changes; reputation and brand; compliance with regulation and legislation; competition; economic conditions; market strategy and clients; planning and execution of strategy; human resources/key people, social security; quality/safety and liability of products and services; and debt, cash flow.

Of those, the majority of respondents said their satisfaction was low with the mitigation available for political, compliance, competition, economic conditions, market strategy and client, and human resources risks.

The insurance industry — including insurers, brokers and risk managers, needs to be more innovative to find ways to tackle those risks, said Julia Graham, president of FERMA.