2016 update:
Sicsic is now at the UK Financial Conduct Authority as head of department, general insurance retail sector.
Michael Sicsic, group risk director, Aviva
Sicsic leads the global operational risk function across the Aviva group and is the chairman of the board of Oric International, an industry consortium that collects, standardises and reports operational risk loss data for the insurance industry. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Operational Risk and a lecturer in actuarial sciences.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I most enjoy contributing to the efforts being made to establish risk management as something concrete that can deliver real value to businesses. I see risk management as far more than just a box-ticking regulatory tool but rather a tangible business decision tool for managing uncertainty. I also enjoy working towards creating a greater body of knowledge for the risk industry and assisting in the education and professional development of those around me.
What will be the next big development in risk management?
I see two major trends that can affect the insurance industry and where risk management will have to play a key role. The first one is around risk quantification and capital. The insurance industry is just about to go live in January 2016 with new capital rules under Solvency II – and at the same time we can see from the banking sector more and more doubts raised around too much sophistication on modelling. This should push the insurance industry to question the balance between sophistication and complexity.
The second one is around risk culture. As regulators and other stakeholders are pushing the conduct agenda, there will be potential impact on some insurance business models. In addition, digital will also accelerate this process. Risk leaders will have a key role to play in driving robust risk culture from the board to the front office.
Who or what has inspired your work?
I found professional inspiration in my first job within the private banking and wealth management industry working for a family owned institution in Paris. I learned the value of integrity and in making decisions that were best for the client and for the company. Their values of sharing common goals, striving for good customer outcomes, and being open and honest in all business dealings is something that has always stuck with me.
More recently, I spent eleven years working with GE Capital, and in this capacity I was inspired by the value of learning to ask the right questions. In this regard, a key role model has been Nelson Gonzalez – retired CRO, a GE veteran of 35 years. In risk management, in order to get to the bottom of complex issues, it is important to communicate clearly and to ask very simple questions in order to get the straightforward explanations necessary to gain greater business risk visibility. Nelson is fantastic at that and I learned a lot working for him.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to emulate your success?
Three things that I would say are critical to business success are expertise, execution and humility. Expertise is key because you need to gain recognition for your knowledge in your area of expertise in order to gain a seat at the table and be seen as a trusted advisor. Then there's execution: you need to be good at delivering what you say you will in order to build a reputation as being reliable. Finally, humility is important because you need to be open to other points of view and to accept that you're not always going to be right or have the best answer.
What have you learnt about communicating risk?
It's critical when communicating risk to always go back to basics. Risk managers need to understand that the managers at the front-end of a business are the people who manage risk day-to-day and it's important to communicate with these people in a way they will understand that avoids technical jargon. We call this the "invisible framework", that is, a risk manager's framework for understanding business risk that can remain unseen when communicating to others about risk.
What are your other interests?
Like a typical Frenchman I am a lover of good wine and food and I am currently completing a certification in wine in order to strengthen my knowledge. I also love spending time with my six-year-old daughter Victoria who is starting to speak English and is realising the value in this, as I work across France and England. And finally, I am in a journey to become a regular runner, with my first half marathon completed recently.