Addressing the Asociación Latinoamericana de Administradores de Riesgos y Seguros (ALARYS) Latin America Risk Management Conference in Bermuda, Alex Moczarski, President of Marsh’s International Division, said that recent events highlighted the need for a more enterprise-wide approach to risk management. Mr Moczarski said that while management of individual hazard risks had historically been viewed by many firms as an “ancillary operational function,” the global financial crisis and the Chilean earthquake illustrated the growth of interdependencies within organizations and world economies.

Boards of directors, CEOs and risk professionals are now paying more attention to historically non-insurable strategic and operational risks, including those arising out of mergers and acquisitions. The purview of the risk manager is also growing.

Mr. Moczarski observed, “Risk managers are increasingly playing a role in divisions that have traditionally operated in ‘silos’ separate from other operations, including treasury, health and safety, business continuity, human resources, compliance, and information technology. Alignment of risk management, operational excellence, and corporate governance has enabled risk managers to influence the thinking and direction, and ultimately the culture of the organization.”

Mr. Moczarski also noted the growing availability of analytic tools to identify and quantify organizational risks, as the risk manager’s role evolves, citing examples that are available to Marsh clients—including Marsh 3D, a dynamic strategic risk planning solution, and Marsh Market Information, a web-accessible tool that provides information on the financial health and security of insurance carriers.