Willis Group Holdings Adds Its Voice on Global Risk with the Launch of Resilience Magazine

Each issue of Resilience will explore how different risks affect multinational organisations and suggest strategies to overcome some of these issues.

London, UK (PRWEB) November 15, 2012

The ability to prepare for the unexpected – such as severe natural disasters, cyber risks, or supply chain interruption – is becoming more and more important in today's increasingly interconnected global economy. As a result, company leaders and risk managers have a more important role to play than ever in helping their company react and respond to extreme events.

This was the message delivered by Joe Plumeri, Chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings WSH, the global insurance broker, as he unveiled the first issue of Resilience magazine, Willis' new risk management publication, which is available online here (http://resilience.willis.com). Willis expects to publish Resilience half-yearly beginning in 2013.

Writing in the premiere Autumn 2012 issue of Resilience, Plumeri said: “Businesses today are faced with a dramatically different risk environment to that which they faced ten years or so ago. The risks they now encounter are multifaceted and complex – such as supply chain disruption or cyber security. Meanwhile, population density, urbanisation, globalisation and climate change make the world increasingly interconnected.

“While globalisation has made businesses more efficient and opened up new markets for them, it's also made running a business much more complicated and rendered organisations more vulnerable in some ways. A catastrophe in a far off locale is more likely than ever to have an immediate impact on a company's operations.”

As a result of these developments, Willis believes risk management has leapt up the corporate agenda and become a much more important part of how a company is run. Companies are increasingly recognising what an important role risk managers play helping improve their company's resilience and sustainability over the long term.

Each issue of Resilience will explore how different risks affect multinational organisations and suggest strategies to overcome some of these issues. As well as insights from Willis' leading thinkers, the magazine includes perspectives from professional risk managers and other third party sources.

A sample of articles from Autumn's issue includes:
1. The Kidnap-and-Ransom Conundrum: Risks are growing in frontier markets and fragile states, stresses Richard Scurrell, Executive Director at Willis' specialist kidnap-and-ransom division, Special Contingency Risks (SCR). But a robust risk management strategy can allow earlier entry into volatile territories.

2. China Rising: China offers the attraction of being potentially the world's largest market and opportunities to get involved in enormous infrastructure and engineering projects. But the country's risk profile is changing, explains Adam Garrard, Chief Executive Officer of Willis Asia.

3. Reputational Crisis: More needs to be done to protect reputational risk in view of the fact that less than 10% of major reputational crises are insurable. Companies should think about outcomes rather than just perils, says Phillip Ellis, Chief Executive Officer of Willis Global Solutions Consulting Group.

4. Net Insecurity: Cyber attackers are one step ahead of security standards and firms that fail to protect their private information can suffer a variety of losses, notes Christopher Keegan, Senior Vice President within FINEX Global (Willis Financial & Executive).

5. Trouble Ahead: Unstable regimes, rising terrorist activity and a global economy in meltdown are just a few of the political risks facing multinational companies today, explains Paul Davidson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Willis Financial Solutions.

6. Investor Aggression: Recent controversy over IPOs has led to lawsuits from those who feel left out of pocket. As the size of listings increases there is increasing take-up of IPO insurance, comments Ann Longmore, Executive Vice President of Willis' Executive Risks practice.

7. Painted into a Corner: Investment in jewellery, fine art, gold, classic cars and other items are increasingly popular in the face of uncertain returns from stocks and shares. But high value also means high risk, says Richard Nicholson, Executive Director for Willis' Fine Art, Jewellery and Specie (FAJS) practice.

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the world. Additional information on Willis may be found at http://www.willis.com.

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