Risk And Responsibility A History Of The Insurance Industry Of British Columbia

In the parade of highlights with which many have tried to sum up the twentieth century, the overarching patterns and fundamental transformations often fail to come into focus. The Columbia History of the 20th Century, however, is much more than a chronicle of the previous century's front-page news. Instead, the book is a series of twenty-three linked interpretive essays on the most significant developments in modern times--ranging from athletics to art, the economy to the environment. Rather than presenting a linear narrative, each author uncovers patterns of worldwide change. James Mayall, for example, writes on nationalism from the rise of European fascism to the rise of Asian and African nations; Sheila Fitzpatrick traces the history of communism and socialism in Moscow and Havana. In her chapter on women and gender, Rosalind Rosenberg covers the progress of women's rights throughout the world, from Middle Eastern activism to the American feminist movement. Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim's history of sports traces the spread of Western sports to all corners of the globe and the West's appropriation of such activities as martial arts. In each, the important strands of history--events, ideas, leading figures, issues--come together to offer an illuminating look at cultural connection, diffusion, and conflict, showing in stark relief how this period has been unlike any preceding era of human history.

This book explains how today's insurance industry developed and highlights the role of the reinsurance industry in spreading risks globally. The book examines the development of insurance markets and of the reinsurance industry in particular, and the history of Swiss Re, one of the leading reinsurance companies in the world.

For much of the twentieth century, industrialized nations addressed social problems, such as workers' compensation benefits and social welfare programs, in terms of spreading risk. But in recent years a new approach has emerged: using risk both as a way to conceive of and address social problems and as an incentive to reduce individual claims on collective resources. Embracing Risk explores this new approach from a variety of perspectives. The first part of the book focuses on the interplay between risk and insurance in various historical and social contexts. The second part examines how risk is used to govern fields outside the realm of insurance, from extreme sports to policing, mental health institutions, and international law. Offering an original approach to risk, insurance, and responsibility, the provocative and wide-ranging essays in Embracing Risk demonstrate that risk has moved well beyond its origins in the insurance trade to become a central organizing principle of social and cultural life.

We live in an age of increasing doubt about whether our institutions and technologies can provide security against risks, many of which they themselves have created. Uncertain Business is an unprecedented inquiry into insurance industry practices and what they tell us about risks and uncertainties in contemporary society. The core of the book is ethnographic studies in distinct fields of insurance: premature death, disability, earthquake, and terrorism. These studies reveal that uncertainty pervades different fields of insurance, the very industry that is charged with transforming uncertainty into manageable risk. Scientific data on risk are variously absent, inadequate, controversial, contradictory, and ignored. Insurers impose meaning on uncertainty through non-scientific forms of knowledge that are intuitive, emotional, aesthetic, moral, and speculative. Nevertheless, the nature of uncertainty and the response to it varies substantially across the fields studied, showing how contemporary society is characterized by competing risk logics. Insurers' perceptions and decisions about uncertainty - with potential for windfall profits as well as catastrophic losses - create crises in insurance availability and provoke new forms of inequality and exclusion. Hence, while the insurance industry is a central bulwark against uncertainty, insurers also play a key role in fostering it.

Overcome ERM implementation challenges by taking cues from leading global organizations Implementing Enterprise Risk Management is a practical guide to establishing an effective ERM system by applying best practices at a granular level. Case studies of leading organizations including Mars, Statoil, LEGO, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, and Astro illustrate the real-world implementation of ERM on a macro level, while also addressing how ERM informs the response to specific incidents. Readers will learn how top companies are effectively constructing ERM systems to positively drive financial growth and manage operational and outside risk factors. By addressing the challenges of adopting ERM in large organizations with different functioning silos and well-established processes, this guide provides expert insight into fitting the new framework into cultures resistant to change. Enterprise risk management covers accidental losses as well as financial, strategic, operational, and other risks. Recent economic and financial market volatility has fueled a heightened interest in ERM, and regulators and investors have begun to scrutinize companies' risk-management policies and procedures. Implementing Enterprise Risk Management provides clear, demonstrative instruction on establishing a strong, effective system. Readers will learn to: Put the right people in the right places to build a strong ERM framework Establish an ERM system in the face of cultural, logistical, and historical challenges Create a common language and reporting system for communicating key risk indicators Create a risk-aware culture without discouraging beneficial risk-taking behaviors ERM is a complex endeavor, requiring expert planning, organization, and leadership, with the goal of steering a company's activities in a direction that minimizes the effects of risk on financial value and performance. Corporate boards are increasingly required to review and report on the adequacy of ERM in the organizations they administer, and Implementing Enterprise Risk Management offers operative guidance for creating a program that will pass muster.

This title explains how today's insurance industry developed and highlights the role of the reinsurance industry in spreading risks globally. It examines the development of insurance markets and of the reinsurance industry in particular, and the history of Swiss Re, one of the leading reinsurance companies in the world.