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PRACTICE
No more business as usual Risk professionals converged in London for a day of stimulating presentations, discussion and networking at the IRM’s annual Risk Leaders conference BY ARTHUR PIPER
“I
t is no longer business as usual,” Professor Mervyn King, chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance, said in a keynote presentation at the IRM’s Risk Leaders 2017 conference in London in November. Over 160 senior risk managers from around the world attended the event. Rapid population growth, climate change and advances in technologies are changing the agenda for organisations and their risk managers, he said. “We have moved to a world of value creation in a sustainable manner,” he said. “Companies are no longer solely focused on maximising profit but are interested in the long-term health of their organisations and the interests of long-term stakeholders.” King, who has been a pioneer in corporate governance and a champion of sustainability reporting, said that today boards were more aware of their broader responsibilities, which had resulted in bringing together financial and sustainability reporting in many organisations. This has come at a time when intangible assets, such as patents, royalties and trademarks, account for a larger share of many corporate balance sheets. King said that good corporate citizenship could be costly because it could mean adding cost to the
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Companies are no longer solely focused on maximising profit but are interested in the long-term health of their organisations and the interests of long-term stakeholders
Enterprise Risk