Soon after a group of local risk management professionals formally founded an association in mid-summer, the Malta Association of Risk Management reached its first target: acceptance as a member of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA).

People must not expect risk management to solve bad management

“Risk management as a profession is not a new reality but, relatively speaking, in Malta, it is still to emerge in all its different aspects,” MARM president John Schembri told The Sunday Times.

“Risk management is not rocket science, nor is it some sort of magic cure for all problems which organisations face from time to time,” he added. “It is an approach to mainstream management which takes into account the potentially negative and positive outcomes of decision-making.

“People must not expect risk management to solve bad management, nor will it make up for inadequate resources and poor decision-making. It can reduce the likelihood and consequences of events that might affect organisations. Good risk management is also about identifying opportunities in risk – a very powerful idea in today’s interconnected world.”

With founding members drawn from sectors as diverse as financial services, aviation, safety and security, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and the public sector, MARM already boasts representation of key local industries.

Mr Schembri, a retired army officer and a qualified risk management professional, explained that MARM’s intent was to establish itself as the main local risk management body with a focus on raising awareness and reaching out to all sectors. MARM planned to design a membership structure to embrace individual and corporate members, and associates. The first wave would likely welcome professionals occupying roles in organisations’ “protective” aspects.

Despite the lack of formalised risk management roles, many people primarily needed to apply awareness, commitment, foresight and common sense to basic risk management, Mr Schembri explained.

MARM has set itself a tri-pronged educational, representational, and advisory mission and aims to evolve into an open forum that would focus on the professional needs and industry standards of the various disciplines. These include business continuity management, health and safety, security, corporate social responsibility, environmental awareness, intellectual property, project management, and waste management.

Mr Schembri emphasised how MARM sought to position itself to be accessible to professionals from both the private and public sector. The association aimed to ensure that knowledge, skills, techniques, methodologies and tools become as widespread as possible without devaluing them.

He pointed out that professionals had to be concerned about the degrees of awareness and levels of preparedness in both public institutions and private enterprise in challenging times. Malta has not been immune to global and regional turmoil: In the context of global connectivity, a risk event might sooner or later test our preparedness, ability to respond, cope or resume in the longer term.

Mr Schembri stressed that such events challenged even the best prepared nations and institutions – risk-, crisis-, and disaster management require very specific sets of skills and organisational structures, and a start had to be made on developing resources.

MARM’s membership of FERMA is a positive step in this direction, giving the association a European platform on which to interact.

“Beyond the networking benefits, FERMA could be an excellent vehicle for shortening existing gaps in the many aspects of risk management, like knowledge, tools, awareness of emerging trends, industry standards and codes of practice,” Mr Schembri explained.

MARM vice-president Ian Edward Stafrace, who was instrumental in its establishment, is to represent the association at FERMA’s three-day conference in Stockholm this week.

The event will be attended by 1,500 risk managers from across Europe. The Malta Financial Services Authority, Finance Malta and the Malta Insurance Managers Association will also participate.

In Stockholm, Mr Stafrace will invite the new FERMA president Jorge Liuzzi to MARM’s forthcoming official launch.

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