Willis: Sovereign Debt Crisis is a Major Concern for European Risk Managers Ahead of FERMA

With the European Central Bank estimating that European insurers’ exposure to the sovereign debt of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain is 17% of their total assets, the current crisis will top the agenda at next week’s annual Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) Forum at the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre, Sweden (October 2-5). This is according to Adam Garrard, Chief Executive Officer for the Continental Europe operations of Willis Group Holdings plc,  the global insurance broker.

Published on September 30, 2011

In the video, which aired on the Group’s new WillisWire blog and dedicated FERMA microsite on Willis.com today, Garrard said, “Sovereign debt failure has the potential to impact insurers’ ability to underwrite insurance at a price risk managers will be comfortable with.” He went on to say that if this coincided with an unsustainable rate of inflation, “reinsurance pricing could rise”.

With 52 offices and a long, established history on the Continent, Willis, one of the leading insurance brokers in Europe, will be represented at the FERMA forum by over 40 Associates from a diverse range of insurance lines, including Renewable Energy, Livestock, Terrorism, Kidnap & Ransom, Executive Risks and Life Sciences, amongst many others.

Delegates are invited to visit the Willis stand at booth number 50, which is located in the main exhibition area, to meet with Willis’ subject matter experts and pick up the Group’s various thought leadership publications.

The broker will also be holding live demonstrations at its booth, including one on Willis Structured Risk Solutions’ natural catastrophe capabilities, and another on Willis Global Solutions International’s client-facing technology which highlights its claims handling, policy management and market security processes.

Willis will also be holding two Product Innovation Pitches during designated coffee breaks on the Marketplace stage in the main exhibition area, including:

*Chris Burns, CEO, Global Employee Benefits, Willis New York, who will give a presentation entitled: “US HealthCare Reform - A view from 10,000 feet”, on Monday, October 3 from 15:00 - 15:45pm.
*Holger Hjortlund, Vice President – Multinational Employee Benefits, Willis Denmark and Olivier Bruyninckx, Vice President - Multinational Employee Benefits, Willis London, will also present on “Mitigating Global Benefits and Optimizing ROI: An Area That Matters”, on Tuesday, October 4 from 15:15 - 16:00pm.

Willis will also be hosting a client reception at the Café Opera on the evening of Monday, October 3.

In addition, for the first time ever, Willis will be covering the FERMA event on social media with Willis attendees tweeting their observations from the conference on the Group Twitter account and blogging about pertinent issues on WillisWire.

Full details outlining Willis’ presence at FERMA can be found on the Willis FERMA microsite.

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