Global Reinsurer: Enterprise Risk Management

This global reinsurer operates in more than 120 countries with an annual premium income of almost €6.4 billion (approximately $7.9 billion).

In the wake of the global financial crisis and in line with Solvency II requirements, the reinsurer wanted to improve its risk management facilitation and compliance. Furthermore, risk management capabilities now contribute to insurance companies’ debt ratings by the various global rating agencies. The client had already developed a good relationship with Accenture over time and was impressed by Accenture’s experience in risk and project management as well as our deep understanding of the insurance industry.

Professionals from Accenture Risk Management worked closely with the client. In phase one of the project, Accenture conducted an assessment of the current state of the reinsurer’s risk management organization and established a program management office with a dedicated SharePoint environment to enable easy collaboration between the teams involved.

During phase two, Accenture helped the client prepare for an audit by three leading rating agencies by producing the required presentation and collecting the corroborating materials.

In phase three, Accenture helped implement recommendations from the rating agencies to improve the operational risk management system, further develop the emerging risks system, finalize the internal referral process with respect to life underwriting, consolidate the strategic financial model as the main basis for operational and strategic decision making, and establish a definition of asset classes as well as a group-wide list of eligible counterparties including derivatives. Furthermore, Accenture helped the client develop and implement an enterprise risk management framework using the COSO 2 framework—a framework designed to help entities assess and enhance their internal control systems.

With Accenture’s help, the client has an updated set of risk management practices that allows it to manage its business better. Its risk reporting is now both more efficient and more effective thanks to clearly defined roles and responsibilities and a clear process for gathering information and substantiating material. With internal control now part of the Risk Department, processes are streamlined and costs reduced.

In addition, a risk management culture has been instilled across the client’s organization through the development of an enterprise risk management questionnaire, external and internal training sessions and the setting up of dedicated, group-wide risk identification processes.

As a result, two of the rating agencies upgraded the client’s risk management rating from adequate to strong. This improved rating has helped the company retain key clients, improve its ability to access the debt market and position itself to achieve high performance.