Interview with Prof. Dr. Maxim Ulrich
Article within the current edition of the Die VersicherungsPraxis magazine, Edition 2/2018. The text was written in German, an excerpt is available in English at the end of the text. The original text can be found here as a PDF version.
Interview mit Prof. Dr. Maxim Ulrich
Als primäre Herausforderung sehe ich den digitalen Wandel in der Branche. Risiko- und Versicherungsmanager werden zunehmend mit immer komplexer werdenden und immer stärker miteinander integrierten IT-Systemen hantieren müssen und diese fortentwickeln. Versicherungsunternehmen und Banken wandeln sich mehr und mehr zu IT-Unternehmen.
Der Wettbewerb durch FinTech-/lnsurTech-Startups beschleunigt diese Entwicklung.
Excerpt in English
Developments in Industry 4.0 require strong information technology expertise, especially in the risk and insurance industries. There is a lack of corresponding training offers. What is needed is education and training that focuses on combining classic financial and risk concepts with the necessary IT skills.
The training of risk and insurance managers in Germany often takes place according to the classical business mathematics-based approach. This training is highly fragmented, lacking a holistic approach that provides the necessary skills in statistics, programming, financial market knowledge and regulation.
In addition, is often, v.a. also in training programs such as the Financial Risk Manager (FRM), primarily acquired in the short term knowledge instead of application and method expertise. Such acquired theoretical knowledge has been proven to be lost again shortly after the test. IT-based teaching methods offer opportunities for success in education and training.
VP: What is the ratio of representatives of the policy holder and the insurance industry in your studies?
The number of graduates in my opinion is set in an insurance-taking company, so the large number of our students v.a. active in the risk management of banks. In the current year of the HECTOR School it was even 100%.
VP: How can one formulate the topic of risk management more appealingly among the potential students / junior staff?
I think many students initially show great interest in risk management. However, too dry a presentation of the substance may deter you. Lack of support can make it difficult for students to understand the mathematically demanding material. Remedy can be the embedding in FinTech projects, application- and research-oriented teaching, as well as practical relevance through programming tasks.
We therefore try to use modern methods such as programming practices or small research projects to teach students the substance based on specific applications. Our experience with it is good and the feedback from the students is very positive.
By offering holistic solutions and providing more targeted knowledge, students have the opportunity to recognize the importance of teaching content to their profession.
VP: How will the requirements for risk and insurance managers change in the coming years?
As a primary challenge, I see the digital transformation in the industry. Risk and insurance managers will increasingly have to deal with increasingly complex and increasingly integrated IT systems and develop them further. Insurance companies and banks are increasingly turning to IT companies.
The competition from FinTech / InsurTech startups accelerates this development.
This is also reflected in the requirements for risk / insurance managers. IT skills, including programming skills and their combination with "classic" knowledge such as risk assessment, will be of great importance in the future and risk managers will need to implement regulation that is ever more extensive.