NU Online News Service, May 24, 2:47 p.m. EDT

Towers Watson launched the North American insurance industry's first knowledge-sharing network for senior-level life, health and property and casualty risk officers.

The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Network will provide C-suite professionals access to conferences, webcasts and other opportunities to meet with specialists in their field.

“Our launch of the CRO Network is in direct response to strong insurance-industry interest in peer networking and best-practice educational opportunities relating to risk management,” says Mark Scanlon, enterprise risk management leader of the Towers Watson Americas life industry and senior consultant who helped develop the program, in a press release.

Scanlon later added, “Ratings agencies have been pushing ERM for years, and last year the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) became more vocal in pushing the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) proposal. It's a significant indication that insurance regulators want to take an internal look inside companies.”

Scanlon says there is interest from senior-level professionals involved in risk management to hear from others in similar positions.

Benefits for CRO Network members include free peer networking across peer life, health and P&C lines insurers, access to industry experts to discuss the implementation of ERM best-practices and value maximization, and educational insights into high-priority current and emerging ERM topics ranked by member companies.

The first two-day network forum, “Risk Management: Best Practices for Insurers,” will be held in September 2012 inWashington,D.C.

Eventually, knowledge gained from CRO Network activities may be shared with a wider audience. “At least at the outset, knowledge-sharing will be among senior risk officers that are members of the CRO Network,” says Scanlon. “Going forward, it may make sense for the best practices to be shared externally with third parties such as insurance regulators and ratings agencies.”

Special Reports /

Chief Risk Officer Network Provides Senior-Level Insights Across Insurance Industry

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