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After COVID, Cyberrisks Top Agenda for Risk Professionals in India, Marsh and RIMS Report

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For risk professionals in India, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical need to build business resilience and develop mature yet flexible business continuity plans to address both short- and long-term threats. In the new Marsh and RIMS report Excellence in Risk Management India 2020, Spotlight on Resilience: Risk Management During COVID-19, 63% of risk professionals in India said a new pandemic or continued fallout from COVID-19 was a top risk facing their organization, followed by cyberattacks (56%), data fraud or theft (36%), failure of critical infrastructure (33%), fiscal crises (31%), and extreme weather events (25%).

This mix of top risks illustrates the critical task before risk professionals heading into 2021: ensuring capability and procedures to respond to fast-emerging disasters, while not losing sight of the critical work to boost baseline resilience against foreseeable risks across the enterprise.

“Organizations need to balance their focus between longstanding and emerging risks,” said Sanjay Kedia, country head and CEO of Marsh India. “While there has long been an awareness of weather-related risks, low-frequency risks generally receive less attention. The pandemic has underlined the need for risk managers to keep all perils on their radar.”

Indeed, Marsh and RIMS found risk assessment and modeling are critical gaps for India-based risk professionals to focus on to mature their risk management programs. “As businesses recover from COVID-19, many senior leaders are shifting attention to questions of resilience.

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But, as our survey shows, the use of advanced risk management techniques in India remains limited—for example, more than one-fifth of respondents do not assess or model emerging risks,” the report noted.

This is particularly the case with emerging cyberrisks. Cyberattacks and data loss or theft ranked among the top three threats, and the pandemic escalated the already rising number of cyberthreats to companies in India with the shift to remote work, online business, and ransomware attacks. Indeed, the report noted that the pandemic led to a surge in cyberattacks against Indian companies, with New Delhi among the top 10 most often attacked cities with regard to ransomware in 2020, and more than a third of Indian respondents to a June survey by Microsoft reporting they had fallen prey to a pandemic-related phishing email. Yet only a third of respondents to the Marsh/RIMS report said they model potential cyber loss scenarios, and only 26% plan to do so in the next year. Key cyberrisk management measures and the rate of implementation among Indian companies include:

Whether it is phishing attacks on employees or internet outages interrupting operations in the supply chain, the report notes that the next major event for Indian companies could well be a cyberattack. Focusing on building cyber resilience was one of the report’s four key recommendations, noting “organizations should shift their focus from solely trying to prevent an attack to accepting the inevitability of a cyber event and taking action to mitigate its effect.”

The report’s other top recommendations for risk professionals in India were:

  • Regularly review existing business continuity plans – “Companies should carefully review and refine their business continuity plans. They should ensure their plans enable them to respond effectively to threats that bring short-term pain and long-term and widespread challenges, as is the case with COVID-19.”
  • Embrace the changing working environment – “Lockdowns intended to stem the spread of COVID-19 required many companies to quickly move to remote working, change their business models, and implement new safety measures upon return to the workplace. Other perils, like a natural disaster, could necessitate and precipitate such shifts, even if shorter in duration. Businesses should invest in structures that allow employees to work remotely effectively, efficiently, and safely and should educate employees on new ways of working under changing circumstances.”
  • Remap and remodel your supply chain – “The COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the need to re-examine supply chains regularly, with special focus on understanding the resilience and reliance of vendors. Companies would benefit from understanding their vendors’ ecosystems; both to provide a clearer view of how they could be affected by different risks and to review contracts to better understand liabilities.
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Moving forward, there is considerable room for risk professionals to be more involved in scenario analysis and strategy

In December, RIMS introduced additional resources specifically for risk professionals in India looking to elevate their risk practice. The report was released around the recent RIMS Virtual Risk Forum India 2020, which brought together hundreds of risk and insurance professionals from across India and around the world. Soon thereafter, the risk management society also announced the official formation of a RIMS India Chapter.

“The exchange of knowledge and experience drives the risk management profession, allowing practitioners to more effectively enhance corporate decision-making, strengthen resiliency and leverage new and exciting opportunities for their organizations,” said Roop Kumar, chief of risk at SBI Life and inaugural president of the India chapter’s board of directors. “RIMS India Chapter will quickly become an exceptional resource for all business leaders. We look forward to delivering cutting-edge risk management insight to support our members as they advance their programs and their careers.”

Other members of the inaugural board of the India chapter include: Keerthana Mainkar, head ERM at Infosys; Amol Padhye, head of market risk at HDFC Bank; Amber Gupta, head legal and corporate secretary at Birla Sunlife Insurance; Anand Shirur, CEO of Digitangle Consulting PVT, Ltd; Steward Doss, associate professor at National Insurance Academy; Monika Mittal, professor at BIMTECH; Shibyanshu Sharma, vice president of risk management at SBI Life; and Yogesh Ghorpade, head of ERM and insurance lead at Thermax Industries.

“RIMS India’s Board of Directors truly represent a cross-section of the country’s risk management community,” said Gopal Krishnan K S, head of RIMS India Operations. “The Society looks forward to learning from their unique experiences and welcoming others to contribute so that, together, we can develop the highest standard of risk management education to address corporate India’s biggest concerns.

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Putting Risk Management on the Front Line

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Businesses in India expressed an overwhelming desire to approach risk management more strategically in this year’s Excellence in Risk Management India report, with 68% of respondents deeming “integrating risk management into strategic planning” their top priority. Today, managing risk intelligently is everyone’s responsibility—not just the company’s executives—and the question of how to enable risk management at the front line of defense (FLoD) was a key theme for Marsh’s “Enabling the First Line of Defense” panel discussion at the RIMS Risk Forum India 2019. Consistently taking the initiative is key to risk management, and panelists discussed a number of proactive strategies for enabling front-line employees to address risk.

Enabling the First Line of Defense

As risk responsibilities move to the front line, organizations will need to review how their risk framework can be adapted. To equip everyone to confidently handle risk, risk management needs to be more intuitive. Data and analytics can also play a significant role in making the process more collaborative, measurable and strategic. Backed by technology, many firms are now not only able to prevent downside risks, but have capitalized on new markets, opportunities and changes in demand.

Panelists expressed that risk management was not a priority for frontline staff like sales executives, who are more likely to be encouraged to meet sales KPIs. Reflecting on his time within financial services, panelist Sudip Basu, Hinduja’s group head of risk, said that during peak times, risk was not an important consideration, and rarely outweighed more immediate profit and success motivations. Of course, self-examination happens during down-turns, which the sector has experienced over several tumultuous decades, both in India and globally. Basu said that this was definitely the case after the global financial crisis.

Bake Risk Management into KRAs

One key activity that the panelists flagged was baking risk management into key responsibility areas (KRAs) so that risk management messaging cascades down to the front line and into business activities. However, the panelists also expressed concern about the level of monitoring being implemented alongside these KRAs, stressing the need for follow-through on good intentions and highlighting this as an area of development needed for success.

Celebrate Successes

Celebrating success is far from an unfamiliar concept, though firms may need to address how success is measured and at what level. According to panelist Jyotsna Sharma, Bridgestone India’s chief financial officer and head of IT, firms are very good at celebrating risk management successes at the senior levels, but not as good at recognizing it for front-line teams. Sharma said that it would be beneficial to build in small acknowledgements for front-line teams and employees who have done exceptional work, have been proactive or have demonstrated risk management best practices.

Acknowledge Incremental Gains

The panelists also stressed the importance of incremental gains. A  change in the front line’s perception of risk management is not likely to happen overnight. If only key milestones or large events are recognized, it could be harder to gain buy-in and ongoing support from teams on the ground. Much like celebrating wins achieved by the FLoD, acknowledging incremental gains helps the team to view the journey to success as a process, and could help FLoD initiatives to more easily gain momentum.

While the FLoD is traditionally associated with operational management, as risks grow increasingly complex and interrelated, risk management is no longer only the purview of control functions, particularly when major influences from regulatory and broader economic environment exist. Ensuring that there is adequate awareness of risks—while rewarding successes across various levels of the organization—is critical for organizations to cope with risk in the current business environment.

RIMS Risk Forum India 2019: Top Risks and a Special Edition Magazine

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rims risk forum india 2019

MUMBAI—”Why are we here?” asked RIMS CEO Mary Roth, welcoming over 100 risk professionals to the recent RIMS Risk Forum India 2019 in Mumbai. “If you look around this room, I think we all share very similar reasons. Risks are changing. Today’s risks seem more complex, and they hit our organizations faster. Think about our climate: heat waves, droughts, and other extreme weather events we’re experiencing. Data: it’s abundant and rich. Technology: it’s evolving overnight, and so are the related risks and opportunities.

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She added, “Expectations have never been greater for our organizations to quickly adapt and implement emerging technologies, address cyber exposures, brace for political change, and uphold ethical and social standards.”

The day’s sessions delved into critical issues like emerging technology, fraud, regulation, and building a risk culture, drawing upon expertise from panelists ranging from the C-suite to regulators themselves. Another key theme was clear to all in attendance: the rapidly shifting role of risk management in organizations across India, and the opportunities that new risks are presenting here.

top risks india 2019According to the new Marsh and RIMS “Excellence in Risk Management” report State of Risk Management in India 2019, which was unveiled at the forum, many of these issues dominate the risk landscape for organizations operating in the country. Indeed, cyberattacks, extreme weather, and data fraud or theft top the agenda for risk professionals in India this year.

Across 23 industries, a vast majority of senior risk professionals cited cyberrisk as their top concern, with 62% agreeing cyber poses the greatest risk to their organization—nearly four times the number who prioritized the runner up, weather events.

“India, like other countries, has been susceptible to malicious cyber attacks and there is growing awareness among corporates of the need to ensure they have appropriate cybersecurity controls,” said Sanjay Kedia, Country Head and CEO, Marsh India. “Firms need to keep up with the evolution of cyber threats if they are to capitalize on technology-based opportunities.

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This will require organizations to make additional investment to ensure they have adequate protection.

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As the profession matures and expands in the region, risk professionals looking to earn a seat at the table are focusing on their potential to serve as a key strategic partner driving these investments.

“Global business leaders who have engrained risk management into the fabric of the organization’s strategic planning processes have become better equipped to make informed, proactive, and rewarding decisions,” said RIMS CEO Mary Roth.

“India’s risk management community continues to demonstrate its strength, as well as its passion for developing advanced capabilities that support growth and innovation.”

risk management india special edition coverTo that end, these top issues are also covered in greater depth in a recent special issue of Risk Management curated specifically for risk professionals in India. Originally available exclusively for attendees of this year’s RIMS Risk Forum India, Risk Management Special Edition: India is now available for readers worldwide. Check it out today and, if you have any feedback, we would love your input to help inform future international coverage—email your thoughts to HTuttle@rims.org.

Global Heat Waves Signal Climate Risks

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India is currently suffering under a heat wave that has lasted over a month, with temperatures reaching a record 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) in New Delhi on June 10 and 122 degrees (50 degrees Celsius) in the western city of Churu. The death toll has been estimated to be at least 36, though some sources put the number at more than 150. Europe is also preparing for its own massive heat wave this week, with temperatures expected to be 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) higher than the seasonal average of 72 degrees (22 degrees Celsius).

This pattern of heat waves has become a yearly occurrence across the globe. Europe faced similar heat last year, as did Asia, with Japan experiencing record-breaking temperatures in 2018, which sent more than 71,000 to hospitals, killing 138. North America also saw extended higher temperatures in 2018, with 41 heat records across the United States, and heat-related deaths overwhelming Montreal’s city morgue.

Experts say that these global record-breaking incidents are the result of climate change, and likely forecast a new normal of dangerous summer heat.

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According to Stefan Rahmstorf, co-chair of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK), “Monthly heat records all over the globe occur five times as often today as they would in a stable climate. This increase in heat extremes is just as predicted by climate science as a consequence of global warming caused by the increasing greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil and gas.

” French national meteorological service Météo-France echoed these concerns, saying that heat waves’ frequency “is expected to double by 2050.” And according to a 2017 study from The Lancet Planetary Health journal, the number of deaths resulting from weather-related disasters could skyrocket in the future, killing as many as 152,000 people each year between 2071 and 2100, more than 50 times greater than the average annual deaths from 1980 to 2010.

As Risk Management has previously reported, these changes are also already impacting business operations globally, with direct economic losses from climate-related disasters (including heat waves) increased 151% from 1998 to 2017, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Heat waves have serious effects on business operations, impacting things like road conditions and agriculture, as well as workers’ health and safety. More than 15 million U.S. workers have jobs requiring time outdoors, and according to the World Bank, even for indoor workers, productivity declines by 2% per degree Celsius above room temperature.

Many countries have taken steps to mitigate the effects of heat waves on their populations. For example, since 2016, India has been providing shelter for homeless people, opening water stations for hydration, cutting building heat absorption by painting roofs white and imposing working hour changes, curfews and restrictions on outdoor activities. These efforts have successfully reduced heat-related deaths from more than 2,400 in 2015 to 250 in 2017.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends similar steps to the ones India is taking, as well as ensuring that energy and water systems are properly functioning, establishing hotlines for reporting cases of high-risk individuals and encouraging energy conservation to reduce the chances of overwhelming electric systems. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that employers and workers facing higher temperatures in the workplace pay close attention for the signs of heat stroke, and keep three words in mind: water, rest and shade.

While these on-the-ground measures can reduce the immediate effects on workers and vulnerable populations like the elderly, children and the homeless, PIK’s Rahmstorf warns that “Only rapidly reducing fossil fuel use and hence CO2 emissions can prevent a disastrous further increase of weather extremes linked to global heating.”