The Pan-Asia Risk and Insurance Management Association (PARIMA) held its first regional conference in Manila on March 28, 2017 at the Shangri-La at the Fort Manila, Taguig City, Philippines. This year’s theme is ‘Sustainable, Resilient, & Intelligent Future,’ which aimed to strengthen and educate risk management professionals and key industry players in today’s rapidly changing risk landscape.
With more than 270 participants, the PARIMA Manila Conference was a landmark event for the risk professional community. In Aboitiz Group, around 50 delegates composed of Risk Managers and Senior Executives attended.
The conference covered various topics on challenges that relate to risk trends, innovation, cyber security, human capital risks, risk maturity, political risks and crisis management. Also, there were a mix of keynote speeches, pre-masterclasses and workshops conducted by leading industry experts.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures President and CEO, Erramon I. Aboitiz (EIA), and Ayala Corporation Chairman and CEO, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) were the keynote speakers. A CEO Panel immediately followed sharing from their perspective on the future of risk management in the Philippines. They were joined in the leadership panel by COO of AON Asia, Michael Gallagher, and Head of South East Asia of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Jonathan Rake.
JAZA shared the Ayala Risk Management experience highlighting the importance of risk management in navigating business in Ayala, citing specific examples on how they have taken risks and used these to the organization’s advantage.
EIA talked about the early years of Risk Management in Aboitiz. Highlights of his presentation were the following:
- Palabra de honor (Word of Honor). He highlighted that Aboitiz REPUTATION is our most valuable asset. Something we protect at all cost at all times. This was well received by the attendees that members of PARIMA have tweeted about this.
- Risk management has evolved from traditional to enterprise risk management (ERM) which deals with strategic, operational, and financial risks as an integrated portfolio.
- On governance, we are perhaps one of the few groups that established a risk and reputation management committee at board level.
- Top risk and trends are change in leadership, advancement in technology, digitization, change in stakeholder choices and expectation, change in political agenda, and climate change.
- How risk management is not about being risk averse, but understanding the risks, its causes and impact so we can take on better risks. It ultimately should be about turning risks into opportunities.
- Integrated management system enabled by a GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) technology is the next phase for the risk maturity journey for Aboitiz.
One of the memorable exchanges during the discussions, when asked how to measure the effectiveness and ROI of risk management, was when JAZA said “Luck should not be underestimated as a component in life.” To which EIA responded that he agreed, but “Luck favors the prepared.” This was also shared in LinkedIn by Paul Jackson, one of the speakers during the PARIMA MasterClass.
Susan Valdez, one of the Philippines’ PARIMA Directors, together with Victoria Tan of Ayala, formally closed the Manila Conference.
The whole day event was followed with a networking cocktail. This gave the delegates the opportunity to catch up with their peers, mingle with other risk practitioners, make new friends, and know great opportunities in the field of risk management.
