Just days before the Pan-Asia Risk & Insurance Management Association’s inaugural risk management conference kicks off in Singapore, Franck Baron outlines his vision to improve risk management education 

Baron has told StrategicRISK about “early conversations” with the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) to discuss potentially aligning its projects – including certification – with PARIMA’s future plans.

Baron says he will announce his vision to improve risk management education across the Asia-Pacific region during his welcome speech on the first day of the conference.

Speaking exclusively to StrategicRISK, he said that is was part of PARIMA’s vision for the future to support a risk management certification programme.

“We have had discussions with FERMA about risk management certification but we have not entered into an agreement yet,” he said.

“What I can say is that risk management certification is part of my vision for PARIMA and for risk management in Asia-Pacific.

“We do not yet have a formal action plan for certification but I believe it is an initiative that will be launched in the future and is very likely to mirror what is being initiated in Europe. 

“It is clear is that a higher level of maturity is needed in Asia-Pacific and this can be achieved through certification.”

The certification programme in question will act as a benchmark against which risk management competence, gained through education and experience, will be measured and awarded.

 

A game changer

The provision of educational opportunities is central to the PARIMA conference, and Baron believes planned workshops will “raise levels of professionalism”.

“The theme of PARIMA’s conference is ‘A game changer for risk professionals’, so the conference is really about empowering risk managers to reach a higher level of recognition and professionalism in their respective organisations,” Baron said.

“It is fair to say, risk management in Asia-Pacific is still at a relatively low level of maturity. Sophistication levels vary considerably from country to country and from sector to sector, but largely, risk management in Asia-Pacific is not as mature as other regions.

“For example, a lot of professionals in risk and insurance are not in high-level positions in their respective organisations, and in terms of sectors, risk management in financial services is relatively mature compared to other industries.

“Risk managers in financial services practise ERM and tend to report directly to the board, but this isn’t a trend in all sectors.”

In his welcome address, Baron will announce plans to develop what he calls “local chapters” in order to meet his aims to raise professionalism.

“The idea is that we develop a strong presence locally in a number of countries to engage risk managers locally by providing support to help them overcome business and risk challenges specific to their country,” he said.

“We aim to communicate this in their local language to make what we do as relevant to them as possible.”