In times of crisis, risk management is key to success, highlights BR event

Prevention is better than cure, agreed the specialists present at the latest Business Review event, Risk Management, held on November 17. Insight into ways to select cost-effective risk-management solutions and find the appropriate methods to plan and implement them was provided throughout the event by experts from various backgrounds, from legal, tax, and business development to human resources and insurance.

Corina Dumitrescu

At the first session of the BR Risk Management event, Prof. dr. Joerg K. Menzer, managing partner at Noerr Romania, moderated the discussion, which tackled the hottest risk management topics in Romania. Commercial risk management in companies active locally, as well as a proper definition of risk management were topics raised by Cristina Apahideanu, management consultant at Horvath & Partners. Internal risk management was tackled by Barbu Mihaescu, managing director at Mattig Management Partners, and Alexandru Enache, account executive and business developer at Gras Savoye.

Fraud risk management was the key issue developed by Kemal Ozmen, director, forensic leader, South East Europe, PwC Romania, who revealed that in Romania the average cost of fraud is USD 1 million and a case occurs once every two days.

Enache tackled the more difficult issue of Romania’s country risk and suggested possible ways for investors to manage it. Challenges that financial departments face during a crisis and ways to evaluate company risks so as to find the right insurance were also addressed by the Gras Savoye representative, who touched on the subject of debt recovery along with the other speakers. Risk management from the perspective of a financial institution, debt collection as a solution to manage risk, client portfolio assessment, as well as transforming risk into a competitive advantage were themes discussed by Karim Kheirat, country manager at ICAP Romania

The second session of the event consisted of the “Compliance Matters” workshop held by Iulian Patrascanu, managing partner, Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates, Mihaela Cracea, managing associate, Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates, and Florina Olteanu, senior lawyer at Fine Law, Patrascanu & Associates. Legal risk assessment was the key issue debated by the three specialists, from an HR as well as a contractual standpoint. Focus was put on legal situations that companies may be faced with if not properly prepared – such as, for example, the legal aspects of an employee’s dismissal or means of preventing and avoiding breaches of contractual stipulations.