PRMIA 2020 fall events summary

As the pandemic forced lockdowns and digital adoption, this was the first year the PRMIA Risk Leader Summit went virtual. It was an experimental year for all of us, but there were pockets of strength and improvement that we can draw upon. In our case, this was the year where we had the most diverse participation in the Summit from a greater number of countries than ever before.

John Kay provided a keynote lecture related to his and Mervyn King’s timely published book, Radical Uncertainty, as it applies to risk management, followed by a CRO panel about the practical implications to the risk office. We looked at the wild swings in pandemic macro and at the adaptive capacity of the consumer and tried to evaluate the largest fragilities in the economic sector. Panelists discussed adaptations to the stress testing and risk identification process that the pandemic has brought.

The pandemic has proved to be a Sputnik moment for the regulatory community in financial services. The NGFS has strengthened to almost 80 members, and climate risk methodologies are advancing all over the world. Operational Resilience was another key area discussed, and new ways to think about resiliency and capacity were brought to the table. There is more emphasis on resiliency than on operational efficiency at this point in time. Cyber and credit risk were key concerns during the year, and both were excellently addressed by our panel.

We would like to thank our strategic partner, Bloomberg, and Avantage Reply and CubeLogic for supporting this year’s event.

2020 presented many challenges for everyone worldwide. As PRMIA and our Canadian Chapters monitored the COVID pandemic, there was much discussion about how to approach our 8th annual Canadian Risk Forum. In the end, as with many other world events, it was decided to move the two-day forum online. With the dedication and assistance from our Pan Canadian Chapter volunteers and “all hands on deck” within PRMIA staff, along with continued trust and support from our sponsors, we were able to promote and present one of our most successful forums ever.

Our theme in keeping with the times, “Exploring the Risk Professional’s Response to COVID-19,” PRMIA Pan Canada offered deep insight into the challenges, unseen forces, and effects the pandemic brought to the risk community. Participation in the event was engaging, and the number of attendees rose in response to our theme and virtual access. To recognize our success, PRMIA Canadian Chapters made a donation on behalf of the volunteers, speakers, moderators and participants to Food Bank Canada to assist with those struggling in these difficult times.

A special thank you to PRMIA Toronto for spearheading the planning efforts, and to PRMIA Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, and Vancouver for the additional support. Thank you to our Supporting Sponsor KPMG; our Executive Session Sponsor EY; and our Contributing Sponsors AxiomSL, MSCI, and Rotman School of Risk Management. We are grateful for everyone’s participation.