Riskonet’s meeting of minds

Add value

On day one, each of the network’s represented countries touched on the aspirations and developments in their respective markets. Ron de Bruijn from the Netherlands listed the tools that are available to the network and led a discussion on shared clients and how services from different countries and organisations could add value for clients in other countries. Afterwards, live online from India, Riskonet Mimansa explained how the recent addition of a new partner in South Korea has increased Riskonet’s presence and representation in Southeast Asia.

Broader client-base

Riskonet Managing Partner in South Africa, Chris Brits, was relieved that despite having had a significant impact, Covid had not jeopardised client services. Riskonet South Africa is enjoying strong growth, particularly in valuations and strategic risk advice, and is opening an office in Mauritius that will make it possible to serve an even broader client-base. Meanwhile, Eduardo Valdizan of Riskonet Partner Oryzont in Spain, discussed a growing need for a knowledge matrix. He was confident that knowledge sharing would benefit the network as a whole, but mainly Riskonet’s international clients. Jose Fernandez, director of Oryzont partner, NTCI, then explained how NTCI reinforces Oryzont’s offering and services on the Iberian peninsula, and beyond.

International component

Özlem Emgen, Riskonet Partner in Turkey explained how risk-management activities in her country are mainly authority- or insurer-driven. Major clients there are in the power sector, but Riskonet also works extensively for reinsurers and does a lot of training. Mark Mangel of the Global Fire Protection Group, the Riskonet partner in the US, stressed that Global will make more use of the local knowledge embedded in the network. Many large multi-nationals would really benefit from the international component offered by Riskonet, he said.

Every step of the way

Malcom Aspley of Riskonet’s UK-based Partner, Certus Risk Management, related how the company places its extensive risk-management and insurance expertise at the disposal of its clients, 90 per cent of which are UK based. In Poland, local partner Leszek Golachowski, described how Riskonet supports clients during every step of an investment process, including the design phase, technical assessment, tendering, and even assessing the quality of workmanship.

No compromising

Ensuing discussions varied from how Riskonet can help large clients present risk quality to insurers, to the importance of working with clients on a realistic, plannable and implementable risk-improvement plan. Pricing approaches were also broached, with Ron de Bruijn confiding that in the Netherlands pricing is typically linked to attaining the required level of quality, but without ever compromising on it. Riskonet partner Tom de Nooij then summed up with a bullet list of takeaways that ranged from shared training possibilities to insurance-design documentation, and from the importance of an expertise matrix to joint tool-development.

Who’s who

Throughout the rest of the week, participants soaked up the collective expertise of a veritable who’s who of risk-management speakers. Erik Schoppen, an authority on brand management, explained why trust is so essential for global consulting organisations. Ruud Leijser, Senior Territory Manager at Honeywell, outlined new and upcoming development and design challenges in fire detection, while Roy Weghorst of Kingspan separated facts from fables when it comes to solar panels and roof construction and safety. Also on-hand were climate specialist Jonathan Meagher and natural hazard specialist Sergey Obolensky of global re-insurer Munich Re, who shared their thoughts on climate change, natural hazards and insurability. And last, but certainly not least, Wouter Haak, Global Chief Underwriting Officer Construction and Energy at AXA XL, led everyone through the world of insurance underwriting and how climate change is impacting it.