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StrategicRISK spoke to every Parima board member about their biggest concerns, priorities and plans for the year ahead. Here’s what they had to say…
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Franck Baron, chairman
Q. What is your priority for Parima in the next 12 months?
Equip our members with the knowledge and recognition they need to progress in their risk management careers: hence the professional certification is, in my eyes, the most critical project for 2017.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Global warming: this impacts both risk management and insurance. The stakes in this game of chance will no longer permit us to take refuge in uncertainties as an excuse for indifference or inaction. The climate change conundrum will demand that all players do much better at risk management in the future than they have in the past.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
To persuade people, mostly internal stakeholders, about the importance and value of risk management and risk financing. It is all about protecting the strategic direction of the business and its assets.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Most of my spare time is dedicated to Parima, which is going from strength to strength. I owe big time to my wife and kids for their support and understanding.
Steve Tunstall, general secretary
Director, Tunstall Associates
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months?
For me this is always about education. The initiatives to increase awareness and membership, expand the knowledge base available to individuals, and to introduce formal certification to aid recognition of professional risk management are our reason for existence.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
The global economic and sociopolitical situation. There seems to be more vocal dissatisfaction with globalization and the concentration of extreme wealth in the hands of the top 1%. Anti-immigration, protectionist and introspective sentiment is rising everywhere and this has significant implications for business.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
The challenge in Asia is still one of perception and education in my view. With risk and insurance management there is no instant product gratification. It can be a hard sell to convince boards to do more than offer lip service and compliance level solutions in this area.
Q. What’s something that people might not know about you?
I’m a social media nerd with more than 30,000 followers on Twitter. I’m the 10th most influential Fintech commentator in Asia; 17th on the Instech Power 100 and 58th of the top 100 most influential people in Blockchain globally, according to Rise.
Pierre Noel, treasurer
Chief security and privacy officer, Huawei
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months in your region?
My priority remains to solidify our association: increase our number of members, provide meaningful activities, such as conferences and certification, across Asia.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
I am quite concerned about overall geopolitical instability, with the potential of a perfect storm: the US presidential election, the emergence of Russia, instability in the Middle East, Philippines in soul searching, and continued tensions over the South China Sea.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Be relevant to the business. I want every board of every company to consider it a reflex to involve risk management as part of their decision process: upstream and not downstream.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Spare time is a very rare commodity for me. When I can really find some quality time, I love to walk in quiet forest and get into a meditation stage.
Kelvin Wu, conference lead
Manager, group risk and insurance, International SOS
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months?
Firstly, Parima is going to launch its professional certification programme, and this is a critical project for the development of the profession across the region. Secondly, Parima remains committed to broadening our grassroots engagement and getting closer to our members.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Data protection/privacy. It is probably not so much an emerging risk as opposed to being an ever evolving and changing one.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
The ability of risk managers to engage with senior management and show their importance and value. But there is a chicken and egg issue here whereby you need senior management to embrace the importance of risk management, and you need the risk manager equipped to handle the associated scrutiny and importance being placed on them.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I am a huge sports fan, and if I am not watching them, I can usually be found playing competitive hockey and floorball for clubs in the local leagues.
Stacey Huang, executive director
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months?
Rolling out the risk professional certification across Asia-Pacific is a top priority for Parima. Registrations will open at our conference on 17 November.
Q. Speaking to members, what are the top risks on their radars?
In Asia, a common theme is the worry around slower economic growth aggravated by heightened competition and further reduction in commodity prices. Increasing regulation is also a growing concern, as is cyber and privacy.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
The fact that risk management is not valued enough. For the breadth of risks within an organisation that risk managers are responsible for, it is a profession that is poorly recognised. This is evidenced by the significant variation in risk manager’s job titles, responsibilities and authority across companies in Asia.
Q. What’s something that people might not know about you?
I function best outside a routine so I am always changing and shaking up my daily activities. I work, but never in the same place every day (and usually in more than one place each day)! I do different workouts at different gyms each day, scout out new skills to pick up and find inspiration in a variety of topics.
AUSTRALIA
Melody Caffin (NEW!)
AWD Alliance insurance manager and Raytheon Australia insurance manager
Why did you choose to join the Parima board and what do you hope to achieve?
I’ve joined the Parima team to continue its growth within the Australian community of risk and insurance managers, and will be pursuing new and unique learning and development experiences to offer the risk professionals in this province.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar and why?
In my area of Australian Maritime Defence and the Australian Government’s commitment to the future of continuous shipbuilding, I consider the top emerging risk to be people. Whether it is retaining the skilled workforce that the AWD project have produced over the past 10 years, or developing a suitably qualified and experienced workforce to sustain the future maritime acquisition programmes.
Q. What is the biggest challenge for the risk management profession?
Gaining relevancy and value-add to businesses: there are too many examples where risk and insurable risk is seen as a token transaction without key policies and principles implemented strategically, operationally or as an enterprise-wide necessity.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Aside from spending quality time with my two young children at home on our family farm, I like to paint and ‘upcycle’ furniture.
SINGAPORE
Gordon Song
Senior vice president, head of group risk and internal audit, Lazada Group
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months in your country?
Increase awareness of Parima and membership from non-risk managers (such as project managers and IT specialists who are integral to performing risk management functions). The second priority is to invite professionals from other fields to share knowledge on topics relevant to risk managers.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months?
Security threats caused by the spread of radicalisation and extremism. Recent acts of terror in Europe have confirmed that terrorists do not have a ‘face’; indeed, it can be anyone with a radicalised mind.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Keeping pace with, and daring to embrace, change. Risk management today is really about daring to work with uncertainty rather than avoid it. Risk managers and the insurance industry traditionally work with historical data, so the key challenge is how the industry makes sense of today’s risks given that the world has changed more in the last decade than the past five.
Q. What’s something that people might not know about you?
I’m a competitive physique athlete. I believe my sport is much like my profession - people see the end result but often miss the hard work that goes on behind.
Maxwell Davis
Enterprise risk manager, Asia-Pacific, Rolls-Royce
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
Run more events that focus on getting risk practitioners together to discuss the challenges they face in their roles. We’ve got lots of experienced people in the region, and a vast range of industries and practices that we should be trying to share as much as possible.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Fundamentally the risks that I deal with have remained the same over the past few years and I don’t expect to see many changes over the coming 12 months. But there will be more focus on geopolitical risk as we begin to know more about Brexit and its potential impacts.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
It’s embedding risk management into business strategy, business decision making, and business governance.
Q. What’s something that people might not know about you?
In my spare time I run a website called FlyStayTravel.com, which is for those out there that have a keen interest in frequent flyer miles and points.
CHINA
Keith Xia
Head of risk management, greater China, Intercontinental Hotel Group
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
Develop and deliver several events for Chinese members with the intention to expand skills; brainstorm new risk trends; and discuss emerging issues in China. Our focus will be on how to attract and support members from domestic companies in the next 12 months. To achieve that, we need to better understand the domestic companies risk requirements and plan events which are practical to them.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
The unforeseeable economic conditions, the political environment and the increasingly tight regulatory environment.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
In China, many of risk professionals are focused only on insurance and are not involved at the strategic planning. Thus, many companies may not even have a risk professional or consider the risks of their strategy.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I used to play lots of sport, such as football, basketball and riding. Recently, I trained for a marathon.
Sharon Shi
Manager insurance and risk management, BMW-Brilliance
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Accidental cat risk and legislation risk will still be the priority in the next 12 months here in China. In the next 12 months, operational risk and cyber risk will be the emerging risks
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
More efforts are needed to share experiences and information among risk managers from different areas and industries in China. Within companies, the risk awareness from non-risk managers should be enhanced continuously.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I am still interested in making friends across different area to extend my life
HONG KONG
David Ralph
Senior vice-president, risk management, PCCW
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
Increase the participation of the Hong Kong (and regional) membership at the events supported by the association and our sponsors. This is closely followed by getting the certification programme established and encouraging our membership to obtain certification.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
The global political situation, with significant youth unemployment and potentially isolationist policies, is likely to increase the potentials for major social unrest and also make financing and international trade much more difficult for international companies.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
The major challenge continues to be the recognition of the true value that competent and inclusive risk management will bring to a company.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Whenever I can, enjoying very long lazy meals with friends is extremely fulfilling.
Emilia M.W. Leung
Barrister-at-Law, Baskerville Chambers
INDIA
Saurabh Verma
Senior vice president, chief insurance, Reliance Industries
Q. What is your priority for the association in the next 12 months in your country?
Get a wider visibility of Parima in India and reach out to risk managers across industries. The key objective will be to create a network of professionals who understand risk and are prepared to share their knowledge and experience.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Looking at current international situation, it’s important for global companies to take stock and evaluate their exposure against various political risks, such as Forex fluctuation, price movement in crude, forex repatriation, and changes in regulation due to changing government policies.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Getting the appropriately qualified resources is one of the key concerns. Currently this profession does not attract many young graduates and retaining talent is not easy.
Risk managers are also not getting the right level of attention and time they should.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to talk youngsters who have just started their career and need guidance, and on Sundays I try my hand at a few curries.
INDONESIA
Bernado Agustono Mochtar
Head of ERM, PT ABM Investama
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
Increase Parima member number in Indonesia and improve the activities of member in terms of information exchange.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Regulation and the economic Asia community market opening.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Inconsistent mandate and commitment from the board.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Travelling and photography. This is a practice of my project management skill.
MALAYSIA
Patrick Abdullah
Vice-president, enterprise risk management, Astro Overseas
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
To have interactive sessions with risk managers so as to expedite their learning curve and improve their efficiencies in their area of expertise.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
In my case, it would be partner management and political risk associated to a country where investments are made.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Lack of understanding by the board on risk management requirements resulting in risk managers not being able to gain traction to do what a professional risk manager needs to do.
Bumi Armada
Head of risk and insurance Suchitra Narayanan
Q. Why did you choose to join the PARIMA board and what do you hope to achieve?
I am passionate about the continued growth and evolution of the risk management profession in the region. I believe that talent and knowledge exists; it just needs to be harnessed in the right way, and Parima is the perfect platform for this.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar and why?
In the industry that I work in, with persistently low oil prices, it is imperative to look for new markets and/or new sources of energy. The fear of the unknown, with regards to both new markets and products is something that we, as an organisation, consider to be our top emerging risk.
Q. What is the biggest challenge for the risk management profession?
Tone from the top is an adage that you often hear risk managers talking about. I still think that there is some way to go, in general, to get buy in from the board and senior management and for this message to be cascaded down throughout the organisation. Risk culture needs to be fully embedded, but this, of course, takes time.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to cook and eat, in equal measure! I love discovering new restaurants and living in Asia is perfect for that.
PHILIPPINES
Victoria Tan
Head group risk management unit, Ayala Corporation
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
My first priority for the Philippine chapter was to increase our membership. After our first local event our membership more than doubled: from 25 to more than 70. The next challenge is to keep members engaged. Next year we will have another conference and establish quarterly meetings.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Regulatory and political risks are something that risk managers should carefully look at. Our ability to anticipate and to respond to these changes will help us thrive in our market. Innovation risk and cyber risk are also high priorities
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
The relevance of risk management professionals is heightened with the fast-changing business environment; however, they are not identified as such. Therefore, we need to change the mindsets of our stakeholders.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Outside of the office, I am a mother to three kids. I usually devote my weekends to ‘mommy duties’ but if I am not with my kids, you can find me in my kitchen where I experiment on new dishes.
Susan Valdez (NEW!)
Aboitiz Equity Ventures senior vice-president chief corporate services officer
Q. Why did you choose to join the PARIMA board and what do you hope to achieve?
Contribute in whatever way I can to deliver the mandates of the board. On the other hand, I also hope to be able to learn more best practices on risk management from my peers in other corporates and connect with the relevant risk advisors who can help us become more resilient by understanding and mitigating better the impact of emerging risks that could come our way.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar and why?
Considering the industries we are in, we consider changing laws and regulations as one of our top risks. Under the new administration, there may be some changes in government policy that can affect our businesses.
Q. What is the biggest challenge for the risk management profession?
Understanding the complexity of certain risks, like cyber security threats, as an example. The speed by which these risks change can be a challenge to the risk professionals as we need to have the capability to mitigate them.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to relax by going to the spa or catching up with my reading.
MYANMAR
Jagath Guru
Head of risk management, internal controls and processes, Myanmar Brewery
Q. What is your priority for in the next 12 months?
Work with insurers to facilitate a one-day seminar on risk management and insurance in Myanmar. The awareness of insurance in Myanmar is very low and many local companies may not have secured their business properly. The government has also announced plans to relax restrictions on foreign insurers next year. Hence, there is a lot of potential for insurers in Myanmar.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
This will be largely focused on the ‘flavour’ of the new government. That is, in what direction are they looking to take Myanmar, what are their top concerns, and whether they re-brand Myanmar as either a ‘strict’ Buddhist country or ‘moderate and pragmatic’ country.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
As a risk manager, we are forced to think strategically about what is good for business, and which risks could affect the organisation both now and in the future. This in itself is the first challenge, as is knowing that risks are dynamic and ever changing. The second challenge is getting buy-in from the risk owner.
Q. What’s something that people might not know about you?
My favourite activities include playing and listening to music. I’m very much a novice musician, but I do play the flute, guitar and the keyboard for passion and entertainment.
TAIWAN
Danny Lin
AVP, risk management and auditing office, Qisda Corporation
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
In Taiwan, we plan to set up an official local charter in the coming year. Currently, the number of Parima members in Taiwan are sufficient to do so.
Q. What is the top emerging risk on your radar in the next 12 months, and why?
Global economic conditions (due to US president election), the price of materials and failure to innovate are the top three risks.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Communication to the board and [the ability to] demonstrate the value of risk management. Enterprise risk management frameworks and processes are easy to learn, however, talking the language of the board is a challenging task. Some risk managers might have room for improvement in this area to boost their support from top management.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I am writing a book about risk management practice in the form of case study.
VIETNAM
Ly Xuan Thu
Consultant, corporate governance, International Finance Corporation
Q. What is your priority in the next 12 months?
Continue working with insurers and brokers to host risk and insurance events in Vietnam and attract more members. I did not see much the cooperation from insurers and brokers in the past 12 months. I would like to put it on the agenda to see how we can improve.
Q. What are your top emerging risks in the next 12 months?
Political risk, economic risk, M&A risk, structural risk and climate change risk.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the risk management profession?
Until more giant companies in Vietnam set up the risk function and hire locals to lead, there will continue to be limited opportunities for risk management.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to write and read when I have free time. Reading about history, people and psychology inspires me the most. For writing, I focus on improvements in risk management in order to help people understand and use it better.
THAILAND
Supaporn Chatchaisaeng
Senior vice-president, insurance office, CP Group
JAPAN
Takashi Kubo
Managing executive officer, senior vice-president, logistics and IMT, INPEX
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