Florence Bindelle

As we gear up for the final preparations for the Forum which starts on 29 September, I realise that this has probably been FERMA’s most active year ever. In addition to the Forum we held a joint event with the European law association AIDA Europe in Paris in June to discuss very topical insurance law issues, such as trade embargoes. We worked with Harvard Business Review Analytics and insurer Zurich on three research projects covering cyber risks, environmental risk management and risk management leadership.

The working group on certification has continued its examination of a possible pan-European certificate of competence for risk managers,and will make a progress report to the Forum.

FERMA also hired its first staff European affairs adviser, Julien Bedhouche, and his presence is greatly increasing the support that FERMA can give to its members in relation to European Commission and Parliament issues.

Even before a single delegate has reached Maastricht for the Forum, we are starting preparations for the 2014 FERMA Risk Management Benchmarking Survey and the Seminar. Next year is particularly important because it’s FERMA’s 40th anniversary. The Forum and the Seminar are unique because they are for the benefit of European risk managers and the risk managers themselves set the programme. The Forum is the largest pan-European gathering for European managers of enterprise, operational and insurable risks. Please join me and your colleagues and business partners there.