CONFERENCE: Risk Frontiers Belgium: Rising to the challenge

After almost two years of turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are having to address plenty of new challenges as they seek to move forward proactively and successfully. This one-day conference brought together risk managers and experts from the world of insurance to explore the risks and opportunities emerging from the pandemic.

This conference was held in association with BELRIM and NARIM.

Venue: Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel, Koningin Astridplein 7B, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium.

AGENDA (all times CET)

09.00
Welcome address

09.05
Keynote address: Business continuity and crisis management: Lessons learned
Speaker: Sandra Gobert, Executive Director, GUBERNA

This keynote address explores the lessons from the pandemic while also considering what companies need to do to prepare themselves properly for the next systemic disaster and what role could and should the risk and insurance manager play in this.

09.45
Panel discussion: Business continuity and crisis management: Lessons learned
Panellists: Sandra Gobert, Executive Director, GUBERNA; Carl Leeman, Chief Risk Officer, Katoen Natie and Vice President BELRIM, Gaëtan Lefèvre, Head of Ethics, Risk & Insurance Management, John Cockerill and President, BELRIM; Nathalie Vandenbroucke, Compliance, Risk & Insurance Officer, Eiffage Benelux

Q&A looking at questions raised by the keynote address and considers how, in practical terms, risk managers can support their organisations as they emerge from the pandemic and readjust their organisations to handle the ‘new normal’.

10.30
Networking break

11.00
Presentation and panel discussion: Risk transfer – a market in flux

The European and international insurance market did not cover itself in glory over 2020 and 2021 and risk and insurance managers face another tough renewal at year-end. This session asks what needs to be done to fix this market to deliver more certainty and consistency and ensure that top management does not decide that insurance no longer plays an important role in the overall management of risks in the business.
Panellists: Bart Van Gysegem, Major Accounts Director, Commercial Risk Solutions, Aon; Enrico Savoia, Head of Broker Engagement EMEA, AIG; Bart Smets, Risk Manager, Umicore and board member of Belrim and Nathalie Vandenbroucke, Compliance, Risk & Insurance Officer, Eiffage Benelux

11.45
Workshop: The future of Business Interruption coverage

The topic of BI and CBI has been under the microscope for some time, well before the arrival of COVID-19. The pandemic has thrown up further huge questions about the validity of this core line.
Workshop leaders: Bram Boets, Property Manager, Aon; Tom Reingraber, Senior Associate, CMS and Kevin Smith, Vice President Claims, Chubb Overseas General

• What coverage can risk and insurance managers expect in coming renewals and beyond based on the recent slew of high-level court cases in the UK, US, Australia and South Africa?
• What capacity can reasonably be expected and on what terms?
• Does BI and CBI finally need to be shifted to a standalone basis to make it viable?

12.45
Lunch

14:00
Workshop: Cyber: an insurable risk?

The Covid-19 pandemic showed us all the cost of a systemic shock. At the same time our dependency on technology soared. We will ask whether risk managers and their organisations are doing enough to prepare. We will also look at the surge in ransomware attacks and ask whether it can remain an insurable risk.
Workshop leaders: Sebastian Hess, Cyber Risk Engineer, AIG and Vanessa Leemans, Chief Broking Officer Cyber Solutions EMEA, Aon

14.30
Presentation and panel discussion: Claims in a hard market

What lessons have been learned about the way claims are being handled by the insurers over the last 12-24 months? What do risk and insurance managers need to do to ensure that their valid claim is paid fully and on time? This session will include a look at the evolving technology and the way its use has been accelerated through the pandemic.
Speaker: Yves Brants, NRB
Panellists: Virginie Frémat, Partner, CMS; Herman Kerremans, CEO, Howden Belgium; Bart Smets, Risk Manager, Umicore and Board Member of Belrim; Kevin Smith, Vice President Claims, Chubb Overseas General and Sam Vardy, Associate Director – Financial Lines Claims, Howden Insurance Brokers Ltd

15.30
Networking break

15.45
Panel discussion: Negotiating in a hard market

This sessions considers the best ways forward as risk managers look to negotiate the best possible terms for their insurance programmes in the year ahead. It also considers the alternatives to the traditional market, looking at the many feasibility studies into the possibilities of setting up a captive. It will also ask what has happened with those studies and whether it will translate into more captives, or are risk managers hedging against the fact that a hard market usually only lasts a couple of years?
Panellists: Pierre-Emmanuel Bogaerts, Country Manager BeLux, AIG; Herman Kerremans, CEO, Howden Belgium; Gaëtan Lefèvre, Head of Ethics, Risk & Insurance Management, John Cockerill and President, BELRIM and Oliver Schofield, Managing Partner, RISCS

16.30
Presentation and panel discussion: Class actions

Europe now has the legal framework that will foster the growth of class actions. This session will look at the hard facts and resulting risks that large corporates face.
Speaker: Wannes Vandenbussche, Assistant Professor, University of Ghent
Panellist: Jo Willems, Partner, Lydian

17.00
Drinks and networking