Re-imagine risk to become more relevant, urges Aon

Aon Benfield brings together global thought leaders at the 15th Hazards Conference in Australia

Gold Coast (18 September 2017) – Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), is encouraging the reinsurance industry to re-imagine risk to better prepare for the challenges of the future at its 15th Biennial Hazards Conference this week.

The interaction between practice and research has been a hallmark of the Hazards Conference Series for over two decades. The fundamental aim of the conference is to stimulate thinking among delegates about big picture trends and to further interaction by providing a forum for the insurance industry, researchers and leading-edge practitioners to meet, understand and learn from each other.

Over 300 delegates are expected to attend Aon Benfield’s conference on 18-20 September on the Gold Coast, Australia with this year’s theme of “Risk Re-imagined …” exploring ways to improve risk management in an increasingly complex world.

Speakers and panelists this year will explore the surprises still challenging the insurance industry around traditional risks such as natural catastrophe. Insurance risk transformation will feature heavily over the two-day conference, with leaders and experts looking at how rapidly changing technological innovations are impacting business resilience. Specific sessions will address the increasing scope of emerging risk trends including cyber security, people risk, climate change and resilience, InsurTech, technological transformations and advertising perspectives.

Robert De Souza, CEO Aon Benfield Australia & New Zealand said, “In a world where technology is reshaping traditional business models and consumer behaviour is changing, companies must innovate and reinvent themselves to remain relevant. Add to this backdrop volatile investment markets, unpredictable weather, fierce competition from both large incumbents and agile fintechs, and increased political and regulatory reform, there’s no doubt the financial services sector is grappling with change.”

De Souza added, “The insurance industry has a history of having to re-think what we thought we already knew. Unforeseen events, such as Hurricane Harvey, a 1000-year unprecedented rainfall event, the magnitude nine earthquakes in Japan, or the huge industrial losses during the Thai floods, remind us of this. Let’s not wait for the next big event before we act. Instead, we must innovate and better prepare for the opportunities and challenges of future socioeconomic, environmental and technological trends”.

 

Background
Since 1989, the Aon Benfield Hazards Conference has been held every two years. It is regarded as an invaluable information gathering and discussion occasion not only for Australian and New Zealand insurance industry personnel, but also for international participants, particularly those from the industry in the Asia-Pacific region. The “Risk Re-imagined” theme for this years’ conference builds on the well-received “Beyond Tomorrow..” and “Think Outside the Risk” themes of the of the 2015 and 2013 Conferences. The Conference will stimulate thinking among the attendees about risk and the gaps in our understanding of risks that tomorrow’s insurance industry will need to confront

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.