What’s New: In Brief (October 13, 2006)

The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) has launched an electronic training initiative designed to help smaller businesses avoid financial failure, A.M. Best reports.The program, known as Professional in Risk Management, was unveiled at FERMA’s fall seminar at the Hotel Bristol Stephanie in Brussels, Belgium. Prorim, as the initiative has been dubbed, is aimed at small and mid-sized businesses. A.M. Best reports the program is receiving support from the European Union and FERMA member associations in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and France. FERMA described Prorim as “the first such truly cross-European project” that it has completed.The materials, available in English, Italian, German and French, have been assembled into modules and tailored to the needs of smaller concerns, FERMA said.”It is user-friendly and can be used in small manageable chunks,” FERMA said in a statement. “And it gives managers a tool that they can use in their day-to-day work.”According to BestWire, Paul Taylor, chair of FERMA’s Prorim working group, told the conference that the small size of SMEs exposes them to added risk and can leave them without ready access to advice. There are “literally thousands” of small companies in Europe, Taylor told A.M. Best.Such organizations may face pressure from large corporate clients to bring in effective risk-management processes, Taylor told the ratings agency.

Canadian Tire Financial Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (CTC, CTC.a), has launched a limited pilot test of new retail banking products, including High Interest Savings accounts, variable and fixed-rate Mortgages and GuaranteedInvestment Certificates.The company already offers insurance and warranty products to more than 6 million consumers; as well, it offers MasterCard credit card banking services to 4 million customers. The Canadian Tire Auto Club offers roadside assistance.The pilot for increased banking services targets markets in Calgary, Alberta and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.Multiple channels will be used to promote the products, the company announced, including television, outdoor billboards, online, Canadian Tire flyers, direct mail and in-store promotion.”The pilot we have launched today will explore the potential to leverage our strengths and grow our business by deepening our customer relationships with new value-added products,” Marco Marrone, president of Canadian Tire Financial Services, says. “Our pilot has been structured in a comprehensive manner but, as we always do when introducing new products to the marketplace, we will test and learn over a period of time in a measured fashion, potentially adding additional financial products in the first half of 2007 as part of the pilot”Our research indicates a strong opportunity for us to expand our financial services portfolio and our customer base.”