Navigating risk to maximise reward: Aon International Growth Seminar

Airmic delegates joined Aon and its partners at the City of London's historic Ironmongers' Hall on 20 March for an afternoon of insight, innovation and expert commentary on the topic of international growth and risk.

Lord Digby Jones, former minister of state for trade and investment and director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), conveyed his beliefs about how education and institutional reform could direct Britain toward an expansionist path. He highlighted current concerns around poor education, an aging population and outdated public services. The task of “fixing Britain” was “urgent” but it was not just a British issue, he said.

Addressing the issue of risk and people, Lord Digby Jones said: “This situation in which a working public contributes to the welfare of everyone under the age of 18 and over 65 cannot go on in its present form and society has got to change. The future belongs to countries in Asia and Brazil. If we are to compete, we have to inspire our young people and communities.”

Sir Nigel Knowles, co-chief executive officer and managing partner at the law firm DLA Piper, spoke about the importance of aligning the board with risk management.  In his talk on exploring the challenges and risks of growing in a global environment, he described how DLA Piper had grown from revenues of £56m to £1.5bn over 18 years. He said a highly aligned businesses could evolve a kind of “organisational agility”, and its ability to execute a strategy could be a tremendous source of competitive advantage. “When leadership and management are aligned with the business, organisations are able to move much quicker within their strategy,” Sir Nigel said.  

From an insurance market perspective, Stephen P McGill, group president of Aon plc and chairman & CEO Aon Risk Solutions, who opened the event, spoke about the effect of a war chest of up to US$100bn in alternative capital. He said it would continue to drive ‘disruptive innovation’ in (re)insurance markets, a trend reminiscent of the great pre-war recovery of the 1930s.

Political uncertainty

Turning to the theme of political uncertainty, Sara Parker, director of member relations and London at the CBI, expressed concerns about the possible consequences of a ‘yes’ vote in the 18 September Scottish referendum. The CBI fears it could disempower pro-European Westminster MPs north of the border, leaving the door open for a series of events that pulled the UK out of the EU, isolating it from the trade deals which businesses can benefit from today.

Ms Parker highlighted the importance that such EU-negotiated trade deals can have for businesses wanting to export to other blocs such as China, Asia and US. She added that while the CBI lobbies hard on behalf of businesses to tackle overbearing regulations and costly directives from Brussels, the EU remains essential to the UK.

Breakout sessions on D&O and employee benefits in captives were held during the afternoon with guests enjoying an insightful role-play at the seminar’s D&O breakout session. The pitfalls of the fictional company’s international M&A strategy put the panel in the middle of a bribery scandal. In the captive workshop, DHL outlined how they have utilized their captives to manage employee benefit risk using polled networks and geographical spread.

Summing up the event Alan Reid, managing director, global clients at Aon Risk Solutions, said "Against the ongoing instability of the global economic market, it is critical that senior executives understand the ever-changing global landscape and how the future of the international business landscape could look. This will help to mitigate risk in the future and this event empowers firms' resilience for the long term."

For more information and to access the presentations and a full report, please go to:

www.aon.com/internationalgrowth2014.com

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