New database eases compliance headaches
A new database to help risk managers ensure insurance programs are globally compliant was launched by Airmic at the body’s annual conference in Birmingham this week.
Insight Risk Manager, developed in collaboration with global insurance market information supplier Axco, was created because global compliance of insurance programs has repeatedly come near the top of risk manager concerns in surveys conducted by Airmic.
Rules vary not only between countries, but also within some territories such as Australia and the United States, and they can change without notice. Failure to comply can result in fines, cancellation of cover, reputational damage and, in exceptional cases, imprisonment.
The main focus of Insight Risk Manager is to address risk managers’ concerns by providing guidance on the rules covering admitted and non-admitted insurances by jurisdiction.
Incoming Airmic chairman Helen Pope said of the launch: “Insight Risk Manager is a product that doesn’t need much introduction. Over the last 4 or 5 years we have been trying to develop such a tool for risk managers to understand their own compliance needs as opposed to those of the insurers and the brokers.
“I’m delighted that I get to produce it in its first format on the eve of my incoming chairmanship.”
The database is the result of a cross-market project chaired by AIRMIC and involving brokers, insurers and insurance trade associations. Although individual insurers and brokers have their own databases, it was suggested by AIRMIC that the size of the task is such that it is best handled on a market-wide basis.
The European risk management federation, FERMA and their North American counterparts RIMS have been kept fully informed.
Julia Graham, a former Airmic chair and now president of FERMA, said:
“It’s a development that FERMA is totally in tune with. It is something we would like to talk to Airmic and Axco about with a view to making a similar if not the same tool available to all FERMA associations. It’s great to see a wonderful idea that FERMA is in tune with come to reality.”
Acxo were chosen to work on the database after an extensive selection process, during which more than a dozen proposals were considered.
“Insight Risk Manager is a question and answer tool that enables risk managers to see some of the key regulatory and compliance questions and know the answers which are consistently structured in all the countries represented,” said Tim Yeates, sales and marketing manager of Axco.
“It takes this information from the perspective of an insurance buyer, and it is certainly the first time this has been done.”
