Scenario analyis guide to be published at annual conference

As applications for annual conference places continue to arrive at record levels, Airmic has announced that an important new guide will be among several pieces of research to be unveiled at the event. It will offer advice on scenario analysis best practice, a topic made all the more important by the Insurance Act and the FRC Code and it will be supported by a member-only seminar at the conference.

In addition, details have been released of what looks like being a highly informative in-depth plenary session examining cyber crisis management with two leading experts and a panel working in real time with an evolving cyber scenario.

Scenario analysis

Airmic frequently advises members to conduct scenario analysis but hasn’t provided information about hop this can be carried out.    

The guidance will link to work on risk horizon scanning and complex claims analysis.

The ability to test how an insurance programme would respond to specific scenarios has emerged as a key challenge with the imminent arrival of the Insurance Act. Although the legislation gives buyers new protections, it also means they can expect policy wordings to be enforced rigorously when large claims are made. It is, therefore, going to be even more important to understand how a policy would respond to different scenarios.

Stress-testing can, however, be a complex and highly time-consuming exercise, involving a wide range of professionals. Once completed, the results should be used to reduce exposures within an organisation and improve its risk profile, as well getting the right policies in place. These issues will be fully investigated in a practical manner by both the guide and the conference seminar.

Cyber – responding to an attack

There is no blueprint for how a crisis management team should respond to a cyber-attack. There are, however, actions and preparations companies can take to help optimise a response should they become a target. The main challenge when under attack is to identify relevant information, quantify the exposure and extract actionable intelligence for decision makers.

The objective of the session is to help attendees accelerate their understanding of how a fast-emerging and complex cyber security risk landscape might operate and to discuss how they might manage the response. 

The facilitators will be Professor Marco Gercke, Director of the Cybercrime Research Institute, and Peter Hacker, Partner at Distinction Global, a specialised unit of the Cybercrime Research Institute.  Hacker was formerly an insurance broker based in London, where he led a practice specialising in cyber-risk.

The session will involve a company crisis management team, how the team responds to a cyber-attack and the consequences of their actions as it unfolds. Decisions will involve issues related to customers, financial matters, the supply chain, communications and the media, insurance and reputation.

The facilitators will use a computer simulation model. The audience will be invited to pose questions electronically via the stage screen.

Record numbers

Meanwhile, the number of people registering for the conference continues to be ahead of all previous years. By the end of March 395 delegates had signed up, including 257 members, plus 80 exhibitors. This means that the event is on course to attract record-breaking numbers for the 14th consecutive time.

The annual conference, New Frontiers in Risk, takes place at Harrogate from June 6-8. Keynote speakers include the TV scientist Professor Brian Cox and the cyber-experts Professor Marco Gercke and Peter Hacker.

For more information about the UK’s leading risk and insurance event, please go to http://www.airmicconference2016.com/

Marco Gercke

Peter Hacker