Tag Archives: risk management india

Immediate Vault

RIMS Risk Forum India 2021: Building Resilience As COVID, Cyberrisk Top Business Risks

Posted on by

An increasingly key theme year over year, resilience is at the root of the latest Excellence in Risk Management India report from Marsh and RIMS—and the RIMS Risk Forum India 2021 virtual event, where the report was officially released today. In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, risk professionals in India reported acute short- and long-term concerns about the interconnected risks of COVID-19 cases, global economic recession, and surging cyberrisks amid shifts in work arrangements.

In addition to the death of more than 5 million people in India, the pandemic has taken a considerable economic toll on the region. “According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India’s economy contracted by close to 8% in 2020, while the world’s economy contracted by 3.5%,” the report noted. “Despite the OECD’s projections for economic expansion—both in India and globally—in 2021 and 2022, the potential for a prolonged global recession remains a concern for organizations in India.

buy fildena online orthomich.com/img/blog/jpg/fildena.html no prescription pharmacy

”

Previously one of the top risks for India-based risk professionals before COVID-19, cyberrisk has also increased significantly with the pandemic and the shift to remote work. “The shift to a remote workforce necessitated by sweeping lockdowns to stem the spread of the pandemic is widely seen as having increased cyberrisk,” Marsh and RIMS noted. “The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) data indicated that cyberattacks in India rose by 300% in 2020, according to news reports. And cyber risk remained elevated in 2021, with more than 600,000 cybersecurity incidents reported in the first six months of the year alone, according to CERT.”

The continuing pandemic, resulting fallout, and ever-growing cyberrisk have presented the biggest risks for organizations in India in 2021, and the survey indicates that local risk professionals expect these to dominate the agenda for businesses in the year to come.

Despite the considerable concern, few respondents said their company is fully prepared for the continued fallout from COVID-19 or future pandemics. Asked to rate their organization’s preparedness from 1 to 5 (not prepared to fully prepared, respectively), the majority of India-based risk professionals ranked their organization a 3, and only 10% said they are fully prepared. While cyberrisk has been a top threat for longer, preparation is not much better for the threat—only a quarter of Indian companies said they are fully prepared for a cyberattack. This is particularly concerning as “some extent of remote work is expected to remain, leading to concerns of increased cyberattacks due to unsecured home networks,” Marsh said in a press release.

According to the report, this underscores the imperative to develop robust risk management strategies for both current and emerging risks and to focus on building resilience. Marsh identified four “common behaviors among companies that are on the path to becoming more resilient”: anticipating risk, connecting risk management to business strategy, avoiding gaps in the perception of preparedness, and measuring relevant data. Marsh and RIMS explained these further, defining key pillars that have set successful businesses apart, and potentially also offering considerations for other organizations to develop more mature risk management programs:

  • Anticipation: Resilient companies expect the unexpected. They have crisis management plans in place, but they also dig deeper, look farther ahead. Consider that during the pandemic even organizations with thorough business continuity plans struggled. Why? Many of them didn’t fully anticipate the widespread, long-lasting damage a pandemic could create.
  • Integration: Another key behavior among resilient organizations is to fully integrate risk management with operations and strategy. Doing so increases the ability to develop effective responses. Most organizations do not connect resilience planning with their long-term investment strategy. Those that do make the connection are on the path to better mitigating financial exposure, reputational damage, business interruption, and other losses.
    buy solosec online orthomich.com/img/blog/jpg/solosec.html no prescription pharmacy


  • Preparedness: On the journey to resilience, it’s important to develop an accurate perception of an organization’s preparedness. A false sense of security can halt an organization in its tracks. Companies often overestimate how quickly and effectively they will be able to respond to and recover from a given risk.
    buy antabuse online orthomich.com/img/blog/jpg/antabuse.html no prescription pharmacy

  • Measurement: There is no shortage of data and analytics in today’s business environment. But consistently applying metrics can be a stumbling block. Many companies fail to conduct a high rate of modeling and forecasting even on risks they see as important. And among the companies that do so, most only model in select areas.

Marsh and RIMS recommended that organizations in India focus on resilience heading into 2022 and beyond. “Resilience means being able to absorb the impact from a range of emerging risks and depends in large part on having robust risk management strategies in place,” the report explained. “This includes anticipating risk, connecting risk management to business strategy, ensuring your organization’s perception of preparedness doesn’t lead to a false sense of security, and measuring relevant data.”

Respondents largely indicated that their organization planned to increase investment in risk management, with 55% saying they expect increased resources, 27% expecting investment to stay the same, and only 4% expecting a decrease. This could be a critical differentiator in navigating COVID-19 recovery and other emerging risks in 2022. Indeed, 42% cited budget at the most critical barrier to understanding the impact of emerging risks on risk management.

Among the takeaways from the report, Marsh and RIMS urged organizations to invest in preparedness. “Look beyond pandemic as you develop a risk management strategy that is prepared to respond to any number of emerging risks,” the report said. “For example, shifting work patterns have intensified an already escalating cyber risk landscape that calls for a range of responses, from scenario planning to financial quantification.”

In addition to a panel on the Excellence in Risk Management India report, the RIMS Risk Forum India 2021 virtual event includes a number of sessions that address resilience challenges and opportunities for risk professionals in India. The program includes keynote addresses by Ajay Srinivasan, chief executive officer at Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), and Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor at the State Bank of India, as well as education sessions like “Cyber Risk Management: A Priority for a Resilient Economy,” “Climate Risk and Your Path to Resilience,” “What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About ESG Risks and Why Risk Management Needs to Change,” and “Breaking the Chain: How Understanding Business Interruption Exposures Can Mean Supply Chain Resilience.”

The RIMS Risk Forum India 2021 virtual event continues tomorrow, December 4, and sessions will also be available for on-demand viewing for the next 60 days. Registration can be found here: https://www.rims.org/events/rf/india-forum-2021

Putting Risk Management on the Front Line

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.

online pharmacy avodart with best prices today in the USA

”

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.

online pharmacy ocuflox with best prices today in the USA

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

online pharmacy antabuse with best prices today in the USA

”

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.