Zurich rolls out risk management tools
Zurich Financial Services Australiahas rolled out a set of risk management tools designed to help financial intermediaries meet new obligations under the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA).
Zurich’s business planning and development manager Richard Rasker says the tools will help advisers, brokers and dealers establish and maintain sufficient risk management systems in keeping with the requirements of two recently released ASIC Policy Statements - PS164 and PS166.
Rasker says while it makes good business sense to assess company risks and also have a contingency plan in place to deal with adverse situations, he says it is something many time-poor small business owners have paid little attention to up until now. This is something that Rasker believes is no longer an option under the new ASIC rules, which take effect when advisers transition to the new FSRA licence.
Zurich’s new risk management tools consist of a series of templates. According to Zurich, the tools closely follow industry best practice (Australian Standard on risk management systems - AS4630), the benchmark ASIC will use to evaluate licensee risk management systems.
It is Rasker’s view that the Zurich group was ideally placed to develop the tools because of its specialist in-house risk engineering capability. He says on a global scale, Zurich is one of the leading authorities in the field of risk engineering, employing more than 1000 engineers and safety professionals in 34 countries.
The tools, released in the form of a kit, are the latest in a series of business planning products developed by Zurich to help its intermediaries prepare for FSRA. Other tools focus on areas such as business planning and development, business benchmarking, and human resources management, with tips on recruiting, training and managing staff.
The risk management kit costs $660.
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