Views sought on ISO certification

Carl Leeman, IFRIMA President

Carl Leeman, IFRIMA President

The International Federation of Insurance and Risk Management Associations (IFRIMA) would like the views of FERMA members on whether certification for ISO 31000 should be introduced. This follows a discussion by the IFRIMA board held during the annual conference of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) in Philadelphia in April.

Of 10 regional and national association representatives who gave their opinion at the meeting, one only of the Spanish associations was actively in favour of certification and the United Kingdom is neutral. The others, which included FERMA, RIMS, the Latin America ALARYS, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and France opposed the introduction of certification of a company.

IFRIMA President Carl Leeman explained that since views expressed from Europe had been mixed getting the opinion of more FERMA members would give a better picture of the general view.

He explained that many risk managers seem to have reservations about the current implementation text ISO 31004. “Also, we would like to see a ‘light’ version for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). COSO and ISO 31000 are most of the time too complicated for them. But a text that was effective to meet their needs would have real added value, both for them and for the larger companies which they supply.”

Risk management education worldwide

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IFRIMA hopes to distribute brief guidelines on the minimum desirable content for a risk management education anywhere in the world in the course of next year. The association is currently working on a first draft which should be ready for discussion at the next IFRIMA meeting in Panama in September. It will blend the topics covered by the education programmes in member countries so that it is clear what should be included.