Ferma Forum 2024, organized annually by the European Federation of Risk Management Associations, will be held in Madrid on October 20-23 this year.
In a world where proactively and creatively managed risk becomes an opportunity, FERMA aims to represent the interests of its members, create, collect and share innovative approaches, raise the profile of the professional risk management profession and demonstrate the value it adds to organizations by raising its profile. With a mission to lead stakeholders with an interest in risk management, Ferma is a federation of 23 risk management associations in 22 European countries, representing more than 5600 risk managers from a wide range of business sectors, from large industrial and commercial companies to financial institutions and local government bodies.
Ferma Forum is an event full of discussion, networking, new business opportunities and innovative solutions where Ferma's member risk managers and risk management associations come together to share their experiences, share information about their projects with their solution partners. On the other hand, Ferma is also a marketplace where you can see many innovations related to changing risks, measures and solutions with the participation of insurance and reinsurance companies, claims management, insurtech companies and financial institutions that work closely with risk managers.
Definition of Risk Manager:
A risk manager is someone who works with an organization to identify, assess, mitigate and control potential consequences for a company. Risk managers can be an internal employee or an external consultant.
A risk manager reviews the entire risk profile of a company or organization to identify financial, strategic, operational or security risks. He or she first guides the board of directors to determine the risk tolerance, then defines implementation procedures and processes for avoidance strategies or transfer alternatives such as insurance to reduce the impact.
Risk managers work with all departments within the organization alongside “experts” in their day-to-day work. They work on ways to improve the existing risk management plan and on transformations to address factors that may change the organization's risk profile (such as loss prevention). With their expertise, risk managers create training and development programs that address risks where the organization has shortcomings. They operate on their own budgets.
The first time I attended Ferma was in 2005. At that time, there were only a few risk or insurance managers and a broker from Türkiye. Since 2005, I have been attending Ferma whenever I get the chance and every year many professional risk managers from business risk management and insurance management from Türkiye attend Ferma.
When I joined Ferma in 2005, our aim was to meet the teams that make insurance decisions for companies based in Europe with investments in Türkiye. While these networking conversations were important experiences in my professional life, at the same time, I was curious to see what all these people were talking about. I participated in panels as the meetings allowed and "risk", which I had mostly associated with insurance until then, gained a whole new meaning and dimension for me.
At the event, hundreds of professionals gathered together to share with all frankness and transparency what their institutions are doing about the risks they focus on, to criticize the insurance industry's contributions and solutions to insurable risks, as well as the aspects that they think are insufficient, and to make demands that direct insurers to be solution-oriented, sometimes even putting pressure on them, directly to their faces, thus engaging in an important solidarity and information-sharing competition with their members. They were talking about global climate change, fossil fuels, micro plastics, modeling. Disasters, the storms experienced that year, the reflections of the issues on the world's agenda such as the terror market after the events of September 11 on businesses and the value that risk managers will add to organizations in the current conjuncture.
Back then, in our country, which was still struggling with the painful aftermath of the 1999 earthquake and was busy with many political and economic issues, risk managers were predominantly those who managed financial risks. Risk management was not integrated into the general management of organizations and the management of risks other than financial risks was not structured, and the risks transferred to insurance included traditional insurance products. When it came to insurance, the most talked about insurance was motor insurance and traffic, followed by transportation, fire and health insurances.
Over the years, Ferma has become an important venue and source of information for organizations to be prepared for the changing face of risk with its "Ferma Forum Themes", which are determined according to changing conditions and agenda. Cyber threats were discussed one year, the effects of the UK's departure from the EU another year, demographics next year, green transformation and war the year after.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has started to take its place in companies in our country with the adoption of risk management by organizations whose risk perception and perspective have matured over the years, the establishment of the Enterprise Risk Managers Association (KRYD), the leadership of TUSIAD and the contribution of insurance brokers focused on this issue.
Over the years, risk managers, who have been examining the risk management policies of similar industries and working to implement their best practices in their own organizations, have shared their achievements and experiences, which they have enriched in meetings such as Ferma, in their organizations and put them into practice. Today, many large companies continue their activities with a corporate risk manager and team within their organization by adopting a holistic management approach, although their number is not very high yet. Looking at the risks of organizations from the broadest perspective, these professionals have triggered an important transformation in the development of risk perception, while at the same time demonstrating that risk management is actually a career track.
"Knowledge thrives by sharing"
As risks have reached many different dimensions, organizations and risk managers need to be always alert to change and create alternative solutions that are flexible enough to adapt quickly. Today, corporate risk managers generate, discuss and share many ideas that contribute to professionals and organizations that want to benefit from the experience gained.
This transformation has also opened a new chapter in organizations' relations with the insurance industry. Issues that the insurance industry has been drawing attention to for years have become better understood, discussed and debated, and found a resonance in organizations. Likewise, companies that approach their risks holistically have directed the insurance industry towards diversification for their existing and new risks. Today, many organizations introduce their risks to the international insurance market together with insurance companies and intermediaries that support modern risk management principles and seek solutions together.
The theme of this year's Ferma Forum 2024 is "Join the risk Revolution"
This year's Ferma program is quite busy. Here are some of the highlights of the two-day conference:
- Transformation to sustainable insurance
- Tomorrow's risks, today's solutions, Specializing in modern risk finance
- Lessons learned from South American mining risks
- Captives - UN Principles for sustainable insurance practice
- Insurance in digital, climate and transition
- From suits to white sneakers: Transforming the Insurance Risk Management Industry for “Zoomers” of Generation Z and Beyond
- Risk and insurance issues in wartime
- Parametric insurances
- Cyber Repositories for Catastrophic Cyber Risks
- Turbulence in liability risks
- 2024 Paralympics: On Embracing Risk in the Pursuit of Excellence
The sweet icing on the cake of such meetings are the many sessions and social gatherings in the evenings of busy days when industry stakeholders discuss new risks, new business opportunities and projects all day long.
For the next few days, I will be with you on my social media accounts with what was discussed at Ferma and delightful meetings.
This week is also the week when the Baden Baden Conference, one of the biggest gatherings of the reinsurance world, will be held. I will share the notes of this important meeting on October 20-24 on occasion, stay tuned. As the 2025 renewals are approaching, I wish everyone a good luck and all the best in this busy week where developments and changes in the insurance market and risk will be discussed.
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