The association will begin its biannual benchmarking survey next week

The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) will launch the 2014 FERMA Benchmarking Survey of European risk and insurance management on Tuesday.

The FERMA Benchmarking Survey, which takes place every other year, collated the views of more than 800 risk and insurance managers across Europe in 2012.

This year, an independent research company, Toluna, will collect the responses and compile the results.

To create the 2014 Benchmarking Survey, FERMA worked extensively with its member associations and five commercial partners: AXA Corporate Solutions, Ernst and Young, Marsh, XL Group and Zurich. Based on this collaboration, the survey will ask risk and insurance managers for their views on:

·         the most significant risks facing businesses today;

·         the cost of risk, including insurance, risk consulting costs and broker remuneration;

·         the relationships between risk management and other internal functions in the organisation;

·         risk management and corporate performance;

·         the identification and insurability of emerging risks, such as cyber risks, environmental liabilities and supply chain exposures;

·         EU hot topics and their impacts for company governance and insurance markets.

The survey results will form the basis of the first FERMA European Risk and Insurance Report.  The report will be published at the FERMA Seminar in Brussels on 20 October.

FERMA president Julia Graham said: “Our members have activities in a number of European countries, so being able to benchmark themselves at European level will be invaluable. At the same time, we need their contribution to make the results truly representative of the views of risk and insurance managers across Europe.”

FERMA board member and head of the survey project group Cristina Martinez said: “Our intention is to create a reference work for risk and insurance managers throughout Europe that will also provide a tangible basis for reporting to senior management on risk management.

“This seventh edition of the FERMA Benchmarking Survey will be more quantitative and practical than previous versions of the survey and provide more benchmarks for comparison, including with the results of surveys conducted by national associations.”