Risk Manager at Generali Brasil

Vanessa Van Enck Ramos is an accomplished risk management professional with a remarkable career in the insurance industry. With a solid academic foundation in actuarial sciences, she has been immersed in risk analysis and expectations from the early stages of her career. She is also a strong advocate for sustainability, highlighting the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in shaping the future of the insurance sector

Through this article, Vanessa Van Enck Ramos, Risk Manager at Generali Brasil, conveys a proactive and forward-thinking approach to risk management, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology, collaboration and sustainability to navigate the evolving landscape of the insurance industry.

Could you highlight the key milestones in your career that led to your role as Risk Manager at Generali Brasil? How have these experiences shaped your approach to risk management?

I have a bachelor's degree in actuarial sciences, so I've been dealing with risk analysis and expectations since I was in college. I started my career as an Actuary, working in an insurance company affiliated with a national bank and in a consultancy specializing in pension funds before joining an insurance company with an international headquarters, where I left aside the calculations of technical provisions and pricing in favor of entering in the world of solvency and risk appetite assessments. This change was fundamental in increasing my strategic vision of an insurance company and helping me fall in love with risk analysis and risk management.

In this insurance company, I also had access to policies, guidelines and minimum standards from European countries—more advanced than Brazil in terms of Solvency II, and I could expand my expertise by sharing knowledge with specialists from various countries. It was crucial to my professional and personal development. It is worth mentioning that these changes of companies came along with the changes of cities, leaving from São Paulo to Brasília and then to Curitiba, which also requires certain risk management in personal life, with logistics, costs, family and friends. All this experience expanded my knowledge and allowed me to return to São Paulo and join Generali Brasil as a Local CRO during the pandemic at the beginning of 2021. Improvement needs to be constant, and I’m currently a Master in Insurance and Risk Management candidate at MIB Trieste School of Management.

What are the most critical challenges facing the risk management industry today, and what innovative strategies are you implementing at GeneraliBrasil to mitigate these risks effectively?

Climate change and cyber attacks are, in my opinion, the most relevant. These two risks are becoming more common, and because they are new risks without accurate historical data, there is greater uncertainty in the risk assessment. Despite climate change, Generali Brasil has low exposure of the portfolio to climate risks and is currently working with reinsurance companies to reduce the potential high volume of claims.

  ​Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will undoubtedly be the driving forces behind advancements in risk management and the insurance market  

Regarding digital risks, Generali Brasil adheres to the Generali Group's strict rules and guidelines. In terms of infrastructures, the company is implementing a new core system and has been working on recurrent vulnerability scanning, penetration tests, annual cyber risk assessments and more recently started a project for quantifying cyber risk using a Generali Group-developed model.

What emerging trends and technological innovations are you leveraging to address these challenges? How are these advancements enhancing transparency and efficiency within the insurance industry? 

For sure it’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Generali Brasil has specific guidelines for this kind of initiative and a risk assessment is mandatory before implementing any tool that uses AI or ML. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can analyze a vast amount of data, identify patterns, anomalies, and fraud, speed up workflow, reduce the number of operational errors, and speed up response times to customers.

How do you foresee the evolution of the risk management industry in the coming years? What key advancements and developments would you like to see, and how do you believe they will impact the insurance sector? 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning will certainly be the pivots of advances in risk management and the insurance market, but I will comment on 3 other topics that I think are relevant

Insurtech Startups, without a doubt, are driving innovation in the insurance sector. They are born with more advanced technology in their DNA, different from more traditional insurance companies with advanced technologies, will to offer new personalized products and a better experience for the customer. I believe that collaboration between traditional insurance companies and insurtech startups can be very beneficial for the sector and especially for the consumer.

Blockchain technology is another advancement with enormous potential to revolutionize the insurance sector—whether for data security, transparency in claims management, reducing the risk of fraud or eliminating possible intermediaries—that make the process more bureaucratic and expensive, in addition to allowing the insurer to have an integrated and auditable database. All of these elements are essential for efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.

Last but not least, I mention Sustainability, this seems to be a trendy topic but environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria must be incorporated into product, investment, capital allocation and decision-making strategies of insurers. In addition to consumers being aware and increasingly inclined to choose products and companies that care about the topic, regulatory bodies are increasingly focused on ESG issues and the implementation of specific and more rigorous regulations. For insurance companies to be sustainable companies in the long term, it is necessary to incorporate these factors across insurance companies.

Based on your extensive experience, what strategic advice would you offer to fellow risk management professionals and senior leaders in the insurance industry? What critical skills and perspectives do you consider essential for success?

Stay updated with trends, continuously monitor insurance and risk management’s best practices, regulatory changes and emerging risks. Improve communication and transparency. Clear and objective communication is fundamental to successful risk management. Communicate about risks to all stakeholders, including employee leaders and customers. Open dialogues and transparency promote trust and collaboration.

Develop a strong risk culture that fosters the values risk management at all levels of the company. Encourage employees to actively identify and report risks, and provide training and resources to enhance risk awareness and competence.

I like to compare the area of ​​risk management to that of an athlete coach, who needs to know the physical and even emotional limitations before putting the athlete in a competition. Risk management is not a blockage or bureaucracy; it is a great tool for evaluating the cost-benefit of strategic decisions. In terms of critical skills, I can highlight communication and adaptability. Strong communication is essential for effectively conveying risk information, collaborating with others and building relationships with stakeholders. Risk management professionals need to be adaptable to changes in regulations, technology and market conditions.