Collaboration essential for resilience - Wegener

The President of FERMA, Dirk Wegener, has told risk and insurance managers and strategic partners in the insurance market: “Risk collaboration is essential to resilience.” He made his remarks at the dinner for the two-day FERMA Talks. ’From Risk to Resilience: Learning to Deal with Disruption’ is taking place in Brussels and online.

Wegener said that despite the pleasure of being able to meet again in person, the pandemic was not yet over, and other disruptions are probable. Climate change, digitalisation, the European Green Deal, sustainability and the hard insurance market, all presented risks and opportunities.

“Our objective must be to create resilience in our organisations so they can respond with flexibility and agility to shocks - wherever they come from. A lesson that we will take forward from the pandemic has been the importance of coordination and cooperation across functions and with external partners.

“We look for partners who will help us manage disruption and build resilience. Financial support is important, and so is technical expertise and intelligence. Today, our exposures are increasing, but the insurance offer is diminishing, especially in some critical lines of business.”

Dirk Wegener urged the insurance market to continue as a key partner helping organisations understand and mitigate risks. “Risk collaboration is essential to resilience. Collaboration between business and the insurance market benefits all of us.”

He said FERMA is working to restart discussions on a European public-private initiative to provide financial resilience against future systemic risks. It is also considering with members how FERMA can support them and their membership in the dialogue with the insurance market.

“I can say confidently as President of FERMA – we are ready to work with our members, our partners and European institutions to build resilience to future shocks and mitigate the impact of future crises.”