Risk Management

In the wake of African Bank’s collapse, the focus should shift to the size of unsecured loan books as a percentage of total loans at all banks.

Marsh Africa’s Realty division, which insures property assets of more than R100bn in South Africa,reports an increase in cable theft and other steels used in the construction of buildings off various sites. Rodney Osborne, Associate Director & Divisional Executive for Marsh Reality Practice, reports that Marsh alone has received three claims in recent months

Equating the failure of Ellerines to a heart attack is most apt! It strikes anywhere, anytime and usually without warning – often with fatal consequences. It is very unlikely that even a soothsayer or fortune teller would have foreseen the demise of Ellerines.

The month of August alone has seen two of the most significant cases of cybercrime including the world’s largest cybercrime hack to date, whereby a Russian crime ring hacked over 1,2 billion usernames and passwords, as well as 500 million email addresses. Following this, the theft of the names, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, birthdays and telephone numbers of 4.5 million patients was stolen from US-based Community Health Systems on 18 August, compromising the privacy of the patients and putting them at great risk for identity fraud.

The Institute of Risk Management South Africa will be rolling out its pilot board exam on 25 November 2014. This certification will ensure that Risk Managers have the necessary competence and knowledge required of them in their respective roles.

The approach to risk management is on the cusp of a shift towards a more unified slant from the traditional process-driven and qualitative focus. This looked good on paper however the reality that was ignored is the minefield that is human fallibility, which leads to an acceleration of potential risk incidents. The combination of qualitative and quantitative risk management allows for less of a static process and a more continuous re-evaluation throughout.