“As of now, we’re starting to learn that what made OceanGate’s expeditions cost-effective and easy to execute were also factors that increased the risk and dangers to passengers. […] It seems as though OceanGate might have attempted to skirt many of these complexities in favor of saving money.”
Parametric reputation health risk monitoring reports. Corporate leaders, from chief marketing officers to risk management professionals to boards of directors, need better monitoring tools for risks to reputation health and the costs of reputation loss – tools like the kind of reputation volatility assessments that are used by certain reputation insurers.
“For the first time since its landmark Caremark decision, the Delaware Chancery Court has allowed a breach of oversight claim to proceed against a corporate officer when it declined to dismiss claims brought by stockholders against David Fairhurst, McDonald’s former head of human resources…”.[kos] The bottom line is that law and society are expecting better management and oversight—a touch of common sense many would say—and that disappointment (read, shift in expectations leading to anger and disappointment, aka, reputation crisis) is playing out in the courts….Companies and boards need a solid, universally applicable management and oversight process that is forward-looking to manage risk strategically. The quality of that process needs to be proactively authenticated with insurance. Compliance-focused controls, which by design are backward looking—and the audits that authenticate them—are necessary but with the evolving expectations of society, apparently no longer sufficient.
Demonstrating Quality and Effectiveness. In this recent post by the National Association of Corporate Directors, the lawyer authors write, “Documenting the board’s activities is a critical component of demonstrating management’s efforts to monitor relevant risks and board review of these efforts.” Under the DoJ’s enhanced enforcement guidelines, simply demonstrating effort is not sufficient. Demonstrating effectiveness—not merely effort—is crucial; and it is one of the strategic benefits of ESG and reputation insurances.
Southwest Airlines Reputation Crisis Day 35. Equity returns at 35 days normalized to the S&P500 returns are -6.2% (predicted -5.7%). It is under performing the Dow Jones US Airlines Index (DJUSAR) by 15.4%. The regression technology powering the equity impact model was derived from a study by Steel City Re, an ESG and reputation insurer.
Liquidity Issues at Blackstone. [There are now] questions about whether the people actually knew the risks, from higher fees than stock and bond funds to the illiquidity of the assets, and even the incentives advisers might get to push certain products. “Blackstone has to prevent a catastrophic shift in stakeholder expectations,” says Kossovsky.
In San Jose, Calif….on Jan. 1, the city will begin requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance to compensate victims harmed by the negligent or reckless use of a firearm. The behavioral economic properties of insurance have long successfully nudged social change.
To follow the quality of risk management, follow the insurance money: Insurers are denying or limiting coverage to clients with exposure to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, leaving digital currency traders and exchanges uninsured for any losses from hacks, theft or lawsuits, several market participants said. […] The FTX collapse will also likely lead to a rise in insurance rates, especially in the U.S. D&O market, insurers said. The rates are already high because of the perceived risks and lack of historical data on cryptocurrency insurance losses.
Parametric insurance grows in importance. In a session at the Cayman Captive Conference 2022 Eddie Brooks, associate director of Alternative Risk Transfer Solutions at WTW, looked at how index-based, or parametric, insurance has emerged over the past two decades as a risk transfer mechanism with particular application to emerging risks resulting from the climate and nature emergencies. A parametric insurance policy—one that is triggered and insures to model—makes ESG coverage possible.
Booze you can use. Nearly as much history, culture and science can be found in cocktails as in cuisine. Do not be too put off by the theatre and skill on display in the modern, snazzy cocktail bar: the craft is approachable and can be learned by doing, starting with a few basic skills and guiding principles […] These are the books to banish … ignorance; to think analytically about all the components of cocktails, and thereby to readjust those proportions; to hone the techniques of the efficient (and occasionally theatrical) barkeep; and to get coupette-sized doses of all that history and cocktail culture.