There are 45 companies (combined value $10 trillion) on the MAGA anti-DEI hit list.“The worst thing that can happen to a company is: You’re still on that list, but you’ve lost all your good faith and credibility with folks on the other side of these issues.” We call this situation a reputation crisis and a clear need for reputation insurance.
Boeing Company reputation crisis day 351. Equity is down 50.9% to peers; Steel City Re’s average observed losses on day 351 is 8.2%. Implications for manufacturers are illustrated in Steel City Re’s 16 April podcast: https://shorturl.at/kEfVL
Southwest Airlines reputation crisis. AAt crisis day 725, Southwest equity is under performing the S&P500 index by 62% and the US airlines index by 66.9%. Steel City Re’ Resilience Monitor warned that an operational failure was likely to trigger a reputation crisis.
Governance experts including the National Association of Corporate Directors and other authorities are encouraging boards to support management more closely in an “uncertain — and possibly volatile — environment,” even at the risk of appearing to micromanage. But with engagement comes culpability for the reactions of already-angry stakeholders. Simply put, the costs of leaning into a reputation crisis may include the dispensation of board members whose personal losses will not be covered by D&O liability insurance. Board members need personal reputation insurance.
Parametric reputation insurance is a timely offering for directors wary of costly reputation risk, says FT Specialist, Agenda.
Boeing employees are striking for…more input into product safety. This labor action is a manifestation of lost reputation value. This labor action is a stark reminder that angry, disappointed employees are one of many expressions of a reputation crisis. Corporate leadership and governors must be mindful that that the long tail of reputation risk typically includes costly investor, regulator, and yes, employee actions.
Reputation risk arises from the failure to meet expectations. All too frequently, reputation risks arising from material operational problems known to insiders are dismissed by those in charge or authority. Nicknames can indicate an issue with ethics, innovation, safety, security, sustainability, and quality. “Junior doctors were referring to Lucy Letby as “Nurse Death” … two years before she was arrested. […] Letby, 34, was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others.” Board members should note that there are many windows into human resource-based organizational risk.
Investors are not good at predicting the net impact of reputation risk. They tend to over or underestimate the net impact on future cash flows on the basis of sentiment and noise rather than on indicators of stakeholder disaffection and behavioral change such as those integral to Steel City Re’s premier reputation risk prediction tool, its Resilience Monitor.
Captives are a solution to the lack of innovation. Martin South, president and chief executive officer, Marsh, was being interview by Penny Randall Seach, group chief underwriting officer, Zurich Insurance Company in a Global CEO fireside discussion at AIRMIC called ‘Global forces driving change: a future outlook’ Because the industry is not offering products that address clients’s needs as risks evolve, “some $25 billion of Marsh clients’ premium is now being retained using this form of risk transfer.“ In other news, insurer AXA is reorganizing US operations. Layoffs are expected. Meanwhile, Steel City Re has on offer a remarkably innovative original outcome-based solution to the most complex risk of all. It is a solution insureds have wanted since 2005, and it is backed today by Tokio Marine Kiln.
Take up rates for parametric risk transfer, insurance and reinsurance solutions have grown “dramatically” over the last year, according to broker Aon. In particular, Aon highlights a rapid shift in both insurance market and corporate risk transfer buyers perceptions of risk transfer alternatives, which is helping to drive more rapid uptake of parametric solutions. […] “There has never been a greater need for alternative risk transfer solutions, including parametric solutions and captives.”