The director of Smart Kolektiv, Neven Marinović, was one of the panelists at the conference “Risks of the new age: Sustainability and Endurance” which was held on June 1 at the Hyatt Hotel and organized by the BeRiskProtected platform.
Operating outside of the ESG principles and sustainability, cyber security and the increasingly endangered mental health of employees are among the top risks that can significantly threaten the profitability of companies, it was concluded at the 4th regional conference.
Željko Jović, vice-governor of the National Bank of Serbia, said that the name of the conference “Sustainability and Endurance” best describes the current economic situation, because it is necessary to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability due to the “multidimensional crisis triggered by the pandemic, the energy crisis and the conflict in Ukraine”.
When it comes to climate and environmental risks, Jović said that the NBS will deal with finding regulatory solutions for different risk weightings, and those transactions that carry less protection against environmental risks would have a higher risk weighting.
“If environmental risks are adequately covered, then there would be appropriate regulatory relief,” Jović said at the “Risks of the New Age: Sustainability and Endurance” conference.
In addition to Neven Marinović, the panel “How to do business sustainably in an unsustainable environment” also hosted Zoran Blagojević, president of IO, Wiener Stadtische Insurance and Vladimir Đukanović, investor, ID Interactive design, 360cities.net – the “Serbian wolf of Wall Street”. The participants looked at the biggest risks to business in the current global circumstances, available sources of financing for companies, the global crisis and the requirements for sustainable business, as well as how to meet environmental requirements in the current global conditions.
At the conference, it was heard that banks are already considering the extent to which companies are exposed to ESG risks, and that insurance companies are slowly abandoning companies that belong to the so-called “dirty industries” both as insurers and as investors. On the other hand, for most buyers in Serbia, the price is still decisive when buying a product, while younger people also pay attention to how much a company cares about the community and ecology.
This is also shown by the Sustainability Study presented by Horvath Adria. Namely, consumer demands speed up sustainability, but also the so-called a sense of environmental responsibility, brand perception and value, and only then regulation.
When it comes to the second risk, cyber security, it was emphasized that the potential damages can be far greater than the value of the investment in prevention: protective systems, education and cyber insurance. Speakers added that practice shows that damages from cyber-attacks can shut down a company, and that cyber-crime is more profitable than drug trafficking, which is why it is expanding.
The participants of the panel on mental health pointed out that, according to the report of the World Health Organization, in the first year of the pandemic alone, anxiety and depression increased by 25%. This certainly reflected the ability to work, so this became one of the top topics for employers and could be called the risk of the new age. At the same time, the turbulences at the global level that affect the business additionally reflect on the employees.
The conference “Risks of the New Age: Sustainability and Endurance” gathered 23 participants, including the Association of Serbian Banks, National CERT, Bambi, A1, Marsh Mclennan, Horvath Adria, UNIQA Insurance, DDOR Insurance, Wiener Stadtische Insurance, Abstract, Vuković&Partners Law Offices and TSG, investor Vladimir Đukanović (“Serbian Wolf of Wall Street”), Nevena Čalovska Hercog, MD, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, AMS Consulting and others.
