Speed interview with Committee Chairman, Laurent Nihoul, General Manager – Corporate Risk & Insurance at ArcelorMittal

Laurent Nihoul, General Manager – Corporate Risk & Insurance, ArcelorMittal and FERMA Board Member

Why is participating to the European Risk Management Seminar important to you?

The FERMA Seminar is genuinely a unique educational and networking experience. Gathering only risk and insurance managers in a limited space and time slot, it is an unparalleled opportunity for risk professionals to share knowledge and practical feedback in a thoroughly open way. In these troubled times of crisis and hardening insurance market, this is one of the very few events where we as risk and insurance professionals can get useful insights for clarifying our way forward.

Why is the theme ‘’Corporate Risk & Finance: how to finance the ever growing universe of risk? ‘’ relevant in today’s fast-pace world?

Because it is the cornerstone of our job: we do not buy insurance but we finance the consequences of our risks. Insurance has proven to be an efficient and cheap tool to do that over the last 20 years but the insurance scarcity resulting from the hardening market will force risk and insurance managers to embrace again and in a more extensive way all other techniques for financing risks.

You will be presenting “The underestimated challenge: risk and insurance communication in a hardening market” , what would you like the audience to remember after your session?

The hardening market is changing the way risk managers have to communicate internally. More challenging questions are coming from the very top of our companies around the added value of the insurance product, the financial impact of reducing cover and increasing retention, etc. I really believe the risk managers’ skill set for communication is more important than before and I would like the audience to leave the session with theoretical but also very practical insights allowing them to make their internal communication more relevant and impactful.