UPSIDE RISK N. 22
CLIMATE CHANGES
November 2021

The unequivocal admonition is certainly to minimise the risks associated with climate change. This implies knowing the vulnerabilities of individual territories and identifying factors for adaptation.

In this issue we summarise comments and digressions from a long-standing representative of the risk management community.

For the sake of completeness we have included an interesting academic article by ETS S.r.l on the importance of predictive analysis for complex infrastructures.

UPSIDE RISK N. 21
SUSTAINABILITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
June 2021

Sustainability and Risk Management – Taking a far-sighted look at the environment: risk culture and awareness.

Never before have we dealt with a subject so close to the name of our publication. Upside Risk means identifying and maximising the opportunity associated with strategic risk management.

Environmental risk, and the consequent issue of containing and drastically reducing gradual pollution worldwide, is a challenge for everyone: institutions, governments, companies and individuals. The stakes are high: the survival of the planet. The game is open and tough, but there are countless opportunities linked to the necessary change to which everyone is called upon to contribute.

UPSIDE RISK N. 20
ADVANCED TRAINING AND RISK MANAGEMENT
February 2021

Advanced Training and Risk Management – Compared to the current generation we have to recognise that we have a debt, today everything is much more difficult.

Therefore, as entrepreneurs, managers or parents, we have to endeavour to foster educational guidance in our sector.

Thus this issue of Upside Risk is born with an invitation to young people to learn about educational opportunities in risk & insurance management.

The same suggestions may also be valid for enhancing professional paths already taken or re-qualifying positions in the labour market and in the companies of reference.

UPSIDE RISK N. 19
ART AND RISK MANAGEMENT
September 2019

We assigned the task to a number of commentators, asking them to put forward considerations on the theme of Art from their own experiential and professional point of view.

The result is a collage of observations that provide points for discussion with an undoubted common denominator: we live in a country with an immense artistic and cultural heritage to be protected, both in the collective and in the private interest.

Art stimulates emotions, creativity and imagination, but then we also need to think about it with a rational approach in order to protect, conserve, enhance and enjoy it intelligently and safely.

UPSIDE RISK N. 18
WELFARE – THE CASE STUDY SANILOG
April 2020

When Piero Lazzeri, President of the Sanilog Fund, asked me to contribute ideas for the Fund’s institutional communication campaign, I proposed to him exactly the “philosophy” of Upside Risk.

To build on the Fund’s history by producing an editorial project that can open up a broad debate on the role that contractual supplementary healthcare can play in the sustainability of the National Health Service.

In short, to talk about welfare in the broadest sense as a contribution to the welfare of workers in a sector and as a decisive element to be valued within the framework of a national collective agreement.

UPSIDE RISK N. 17
PHILOSOPHY OF RISK
November 2019

Is risk management a protocol of behaviour or a way of acting with respect to one’s own philosophical view of risk?

Is it a discipline only for corporate organisations or a necessary and inviting process that concerns every individual and every organisation, applying to both aspects of personal and professional life?

The unforgettable Quelo – the guru masterfully played by Corrado Guzzanti in a television parody – would answer: “The second you said in both cases”. With this in mind, we wanted to share and understand visions and philosophies of risk by questioning authoritative individuals with original points of view.

UPSIDE RISK N. 16
HEALTH, A UNIVERSAL RIGHT
July 2019

On a beautiful spring day in Rome’s Piazza Montecitorio, around two hundred people, properly dressed and moderately noisy, neatly passed the security checks and entered the Queen’s Hall of the Chamber of Deputies. They are entrepreneurs, representatives of the social partners, health and insurance professionals.

I decide instantly: I am sacrificing the planned monographic edition on Brexit to devote the summer issue of our magazine to this day of competent reflection and calm assessment and judgement.

Below is the stenographic report of the event from the official website of the Chamber of Deputies.

UPSIDE RISK N. 15
MIGRATION FLOWS
February 2019

Migration and migration flows – Changing demographics, climate change, employment and health security are interconnected phenomena.

The original visions of the experts who have written or been interviewed undoubtedly make one fundamental reality clear: when faced with this issue, there are no spectators, everyone can have an impact and there is a moral and civic duty to explore the topic in depth and take up their own position.

We have opened a discussion with the hope that readers will discover interesting and innovative ideas to reflect on.

MacroGeo, in collaboration with the “Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition” has conducted an analysis of the geopolitical effects of migration and nutrition in the Euro-Mediterranean area.

Following the reference to the publication Food and Migration.

UPSIDE RISK N. 14
INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION DIRECTIVE
November 2018

This monothematic number of UpsideRisk deals with the new Insurance Directive, the new insurance distribution at European level and how it is transposed in our country: if you are a small broker, an agent with your own nice little structure and an established portfolio, you are no longer the hunter but become the prey.

The most critical had already perceived this but now it will be evident, the new IDD is probably designed to select, Darwinianly speaking.

More than a jungle it will be a forest and in the forest there will always be room for Robin Hoods who will be able to live a new season of their entertaining professional career.

Useful links: Regulation IVASS n. 39 Regulation IVASS n. 40 Regulation IVASS n. 41.

UPSIDE RISK N. 13
RISK AND INSURANCE
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
July 2018

Insurance & Digital Transformation – We are experiencing a moment of great transformation in consumer behaviour patterns and consequently in the proposition and sale of products and services combined with widespread technologies in everyday use.

The insurance industry is also preparing for an epochal change: new technologies capable of monitoring people’s risks will increasingly enable the personalization of insurance models both in terms of risk pricing and service delivery.

The innovations in favor of development of so-called ‘agile’ insurance are the subject of this issue of Upside Risk.

We have chosen to develop the content of the magazine around three topics: observations on the transformation of insurance models proposed by the most advanced companies in the world, as emerged and represented at the conference organised by Insurance Connect last March in Milan.

UPSIDE RISK N. 12
PROTECTION AND SAVINGS
January/February 2018

Today, there is a clear need for civic and financial education: everyone is called upon to assess and understand his or her own risk profile in terms of medium – to long-term life prospects and to prepare a personal strategic plan that combines the concepts of protection and welfare by using a wide range of instruments to supplement public welfare systems.

The insurance industry in this context can look at the topic as an opportunity with a necessary innovative vision of the offer.

We wanted to make a pragmatic contribution by collecting the opinions of financial and insurance market operators with their respective current visions of savings and protection, addressing the innovative topic of PIR (individual savings plans).

Finally, we paid particular attention to the alarming phenomenon of dormant policies: 4 million life insurance policies that have expired and have not been cashed in because the beneficiaries are unaware of their existence. (Source IVASS – Report on investigation into dormant policies)

UPSIDE RISK N. 11
SHARED WELFARE
September/October 2017

Shared Welfare – In Montecatini Terme, from 28 September to 1 October 2017, the tenth edition of the Festival of Health was staged, organised by The Best Solutions Group, in collaboration with and under the patronage of the Municipality of Montecatini Terme and the Region of Tuscany.

We considered summarising in a special edition of Upside Risk the three speeches most relevant to the area of risk management in healthcare, in order to stay up-to-date on a topic that is constantly and rapidly evolving.

Within the prestigious framework described above, we were commissioned to organise a workshop for professionals entitled “Shared Welfare: the Italian health system between governance, innovation, sustainability and social responsibility”.

Useful links: VII RBM Salute – Censis Report on Health Care in Italy.

UPSIDE RISK N. 10
HEALTH LIABILITY
June/July 2017

In the first part of 2017, the most significant legislative intervention that had a decisive impact on risk management matters was undoubtedly the Gelli-Bianco Law (law 8 march 2017, n. 24), which redefined health professional liability both for doctors and health workers in general and for public or private hospitals.

A debate immediately arose among lawyers, risk managers, insurers and medical examiners: conferences, educational meetings and essays on the subject followed one another.

The different opinions on the regulation led us to dedicate Upside Risk to this topic.

UPSIDE RISK N. 09
SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE
March/April 2017

Sustainable healthcare – In 2000 the over-65s were 18%, in 2015 they were 22%, and at the same time average life expectancy rose from 79.8 to 82.3 years.

This figure is inevitably an indicator of the growth in demand for long-term and chronic health care, and is associated with the slowdown in the country’s GDP over the years, which has even turned negative since 2008.

We have received contributions relating to the evolution of the health insurance sector, the private pharmacy system as a healthcare facility and telemedicine as a technologically advanced way of facilitating diagnosis and treatment while reducing costs.

Upside Risk’s philosophy is always to take the positive side of a risk situation, and in this case we have decided to measure ourselves against a major social risk, proposing a perspective that contains practicable hints of reasonable optimism.

UPSIDE RISK N. 08
COMPANIES AND LEGALITY
January/February 2017

The 2016 survey published by Trasparency International shows that Italy ranks 60th in the virtual corruption perception index, which was carried out by analysing the profile of 176 countries worldwide.

We have taken the alarming data as a starting point to examine it in depth and to promote legality in business activities as a factor that enhances security and competitiveness in economic contexts: a sound principle from a macroeconomic point of view and an opportunity for the microeconomic one.

This issue of our magazine is therefore dedicated to the theme of legality in business as a strategic objective to be achieved, including the mechanisms of rewards provided for companies that comply with the rules and align themselves with high ethical and social standards, addressing in this sense the governance of their organisations.

UPSIDE RISK N. 07
AEROSPACE RISKS
November/December 2016

Aerospace risks – The civil and commercial use of satellites will prevail over the military one, i.e. there will be a thriving market for profit-driven space programmes: a complex industrial activity with long-term objectives and very specific risks.

It will be an interesting innovative challenge for risk managers and for insurance and reinsurance market operators, who will be able to propose new solutions in the face of a significant growth in premium volume.

Benefiting from the World Space Risk Forum 2016 held in Dubai at the beginning of November, we met and interviewed industry players with the aim of enabling an understanding of this fascinating new world and understanding its risks and possible insurance solutions.

UPSIDE RISK N. 06
PANDEMIC RISK
September/October 2016

The risk of a pandemic represents a serious threat not only to the health of populations at global level but also to international economic sustainability, especially in areas with the highest concentration of poverty and with a consequential impact that does not discount even the most modern and organised socio-economic systems.

This is a risk with a potential macro-economic impact that is matched by a necessary and crucial risk management response that primarily concerns government systems, supranational entities and international organisations.

UPSIDE RISK N. 05
CYBER RISK
July/August 2016

The American company specialized in the analysis and management of cyber risks, UpGuard.com, has shown how, at a global level, companies have rationalised the profound changes and significant costs that digital transformation is entailing.

The analysis of risks and insurance solutions related to the cyber theme is therefore the focus of our editorial attention, also thanks to the research contributions of Clusit, the overview of the Italian situation illustrated by the President of Anra and contributions from authoritative experts in the sector who have collaborated on this issue of UpsideRisk.

UPSIDE RISK N.04
RISK MANAGEMENT AND EXTRAORDINARY FINANCE
May/June 2016

The theme of this issue of Upside Risk refers to a modern form of risk analysis, applicable to a delicate and decisive moment in the life of companies, the context of mergers and acquisitions, in other words, the mapping of all possible criticalities that may affect investment flows and the value of the economic capital of a company at the strategic moment of an acquisition, merger or incorporation.

What is defined as an extraordinary finance transaction in respect of which random aspects that may depress or adversely affect the transaction must be identified, both in the view of the buyer and in that of the seller. This is a complex risk assessment with industrial, financial, legal or fiscal implications.

UPSIDE RISK N. 03
INTEGRATIVE HEALTH FUNDS AND PUBLIC HEALTH
March/April 2016

More than ten million Italians are enrolled in a form of integrative healthcare through funds set up for this purpose: one could speak, in fact, of the ‘second pillar of the Italian healthcare system’.

In the correct strategy for the development of Integrative Healthcare, there is a sophisticated risk management analysis of risks with a high frequency of occurrence, represented by forms of healthcare expenditure such as dentistry, specialist visits, medicines and possible cases of severity, with reference to complex surgery and treatment for serious or rare diseases.

UPSIDE RISK N. 02
WAR OR TERRORISM?
January/February 2016

War or Terrorism? – The second issue of the magazine is devoted to new forms of terrorism: phenomena that can undermine not only the traditional boundaries of international law, but also insurance and reinsurance rules.

The path that we propose to deepen the theme passes through considerations of legal, economic and finally technical nature, with particular reference to the financial transfer of this type of risks in the insurance and reinsurance markets.

We have consulted the opinions of a jurist, a financial analyst and the major international insurance and reinsurance brokerage company, trying to make our own original contribution to the definition and quantification of some significant phenomena surrounding the discussion.

UPSIDE RISK N. 01
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
November/December 2015

The exchange of knowledge and active participation in discussions of common interest is a driving force for the improvement of companies and people’s professionalism.

Upside Risk was created as a virtual place for the exchange of knowledge about risk, with the aim of improving awareness of complex issues, seizing opportunities with respect to situations where only the negative aspect of a potential danger is first perceived emotionally.

The first issue of our magazine is dedicated to a highly topical issue: medical malpractice, i.e. the risk of clinical error and the consequent responsibilities of healthcare facilities and operators.