Technology risks are a major concern for the industry, according to Hollard Chief Risk Officer David Hall.

Threats include the emergence of contestable platforms, data security and increased consumer power via social media, he told an Actuaries Institute seminar on enterprise risk management (ERM) last week.

Other business risks include regulatory reforms, climate change and competition from new entrants and brands.

Junior staff should be involved in risk management because they are often better at recognising problems and opportunities than board members or executives, Mr Hall says.

“Enterprise risk management can no longer be something we just talk about in the boardroom – it is… very important that we bed it down into our organisations.

“Identification is best delivered by more junior staff, or your middle management team, because they are the people at the coalface.”

The Actuaries Institute says billions of dollars of revenue are under threat from out-of-date ERM practices.

“Businesses fail all the time because they are not resilient – they don’t adapt and don’t have the robustness to deal with downturns,” risk management practice committee chairman Joshua Corrigan said.

“Having a proper ERM framework and thinking about embedding resilience is going to become a source of significant competitive advantage.”