Technological change is an opportunity for brokers to help clients manage escalating risks, Austbrokers and IBNA Member Services (AIMS) GM Glenn Schultz has told the group’s annual conference, themed The New World.

The globalised economy is creating more diverse and vulnerable supply chains, while greater reliance on technology generates new and increasing risks, he said today in the conference opening ceremony in Shanghai.

“We have to assist clients to manage these escalating risks – transfer can no longer be our only answer,” he says. “The ‘new world’ really could be the change to trusted adviser with a principal focus on risk prevention and reduction.”

About 400 delegates are attending the conference, which returns to Asia for the first time since 2008 in Macau. The gatherings are held overseas every second year.

Speakers this year include Munich Re Head of Business Development Greater China Axel Fuerderer, Fujitsu Oceania Internet of Things GM Craig Carter and global futurist and innovation strategist Anders Sorman-Nilsson.

The conference, at the Jing An Shangri-La, ends on Wednesday.