FERMA Risk Conference - various content

Seems to be a good amount of debate and activity over in Stockholm for the FERMA conference - I heartily recommend the blog.

So far the VP of FERMA has blown FERMA's trumpet, a futurologist (now there's a profession!)recommends looking out for "ninja" trends whilst referring to risk professionals as "sexy magician types", and the head of an enormous German bank telling us that "risk management deficiencies" were at the heart of the financial crisis (as opposed to avaricious bankers). The phrase schadensh*zen springs immediately to mind...

In addition, there was a nice piece on Captives under Solvency II (I liked the parallel between a tightening reinsurance market alongside the expense of allocating additional capital to captive vehicles looking like a double-whammy), and FERMA's VP in the action again recommending that the risk profession engages in some 'upskilling' in order to be engaged more fully with the board, noting "It is all about talking the language of the board...and that is financials".

I wouldn't agree with that, but I appreciate the sentiment in the context of the actuarial professions' upskilling exercises with the CRO/Head of Risk Function role in mind.