Towers Watson has launched the insurance industry's first knowledge-sharing network for North American-based, senior-level risk officers at life, health and P&C companies.

The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Network will provide C-suite professionals free access to conferences, webcasts, and other opportunities to meet with and learn from 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,” Mark Scanlon, enterprise risk management (ERM) leader of the Towers Watson Americas life industry and senior consultant who helped develop the program, says in a statement.

Benefits for CRO Network members include online and face-to-face networking with peers at P&C, life and health carriers; 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, as ranked by member companies.

Scanlon tells NU there is great interest from senior-level professionals involved in risk management to hear from others in similar positions. Additionally, “ratings agencies have been pushing ERM for years, and last year the National Association of Insurance Commissioners became more vocal in pushing the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment proposal,” he notes. “It's a significant indication that insurance regulators want to take a [deeper] look inside companies.”

CRO Network membership is open to CROs and executives with risk-management leadership responsibilities at life, health and P&C insurance groups with operations in the U.S., Bermuda and Canada. Members will be able to attend Towers Watson's CRO Network's inaugural conference to be held Sept. 10 and 11 in Washington, D.C.

Eventually, knowledge gained from CRO Network activities may be shared with a wider audience, says Scanlon: “At least at the outset, knowledge-sharing will be among senior risk officers who are members of the CRO Network. 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 Allows Sharing of Senior-Level Insights

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