Your disaster recovery plan is in place, but as with any plan, you need to test it not only to find holes in the plan, but also confirm the underlying assumptions will work. This is the only book available on this subject and is your guide to the entire testing process. Testing cannot be an afterthought of recovery planning; it must be a powerful, disciplined and efficient implementation tool. This book proves that testing is not an art. It is a science.Despite the ever-evolving nature of business in the global economy and the corresponding increased number of threats to business continuity, this book contains timeless and technology-independent principles from 30 professionals who have contributed their expertise in 36 detailed chapters. Each author provides checklists and suggest topics to cover in any disaster recovery planning document.The book is written in four sections with numerous realistic scenarios and provides beneficial guidance for managing the entire testing process. " 'Disaster Recovery Testing: Exercising Your Contingency Plan, ' written jointly by thirty disaster recovery professionals, drives home the importance of testing the company's contingency plan, discussing necessary management skills, effective use of resources, and the elements of successful testing in various settings. "The authors assume that a disaster recovery plan has already been developed and approved. The book's initial chapters are similar to what one might find in a disaster recovery planning book, including how to justify, budget, and manage the process - but all are geared towards testing. "One important chapter addresses the benefits of client participation. Disaster recovery managers know how important it is to develop a partnership with the client business leaders to address adequately all recovery aspects of business functionality. "Various testing methods and processes are also addressed. The authors provide numerous checklists and suggest topics to cover in any disaster recovery planning document. These lists alone make the book worthwhile."Overall, ... the material focuses much needed attention on disaster recovery testing. It is written in four well-planned, easy-to-follow sections, with numerous realistic scenarios and ideas to consider. This book will provide useful guidance for management of the entire disaster recovery testing process." --SECURITY MANAGEMENT Magazine" 'Disaster Recovery Testing: Exercising Your Contingency Plan, ' written jointly by thirty disaster recovery professionals, drives home the importance of testing the company's contingency plan, discussing necessary management skills, effective use of resources, and the elements of successful testing in various settings."The authors assume that a disaster recovery plan has already been developed and approved. The book's initial chapters are similar to what one might find in a disaster recovery planning book, including how to justify, budget, and manage the process - but all are geared towards testing. "One important chapter addresses the benefits of client participation. Disaster recovery managers know how important it is to develop a partnership with the client business leaders to address adequately all recovery aspects of business functionality. "Various testing methods and processes are also addressed. The authors provide numerous checklists and suggest topics to cover in any disaster recovery planning document. These lists alone make the book worthwhile. "Overall, ... the material focuses much needed attention on disaster recovery testing. It is written in four well-planned, easy-to-follow sections, with numerous realistic scenarios and ideas to consider. This book will provide useful guidance for management of the entire disaster recovery testing process." --SECURITY MANAGEMENT Magazine

This book consists of chapters by contributors (well-known professors, practitioners, and consultants from large and well respected money management firms within this area) offering the latest research in the OpRisk area. The chapters highlight how operational risk helps firms survive and prosper by givingreaders the latest, cutting-edge techniques in OpRisk management. Topics discussed include: Basel Accord II, getting ready for the New Basel III, Extreme Value Theory, the new capital requirements and regulations in the banking sector in relation to financial reporting (including developing concepts such as OpRisk Insurance which wasn't a part of the Basel II framework). The book further discussed quantitative and qualitative aspects of OpRisk, as well as fraud and applications to the fund industry.

In recent years, much attention has been focused on the roles that the private sector and federal government play in providing insurance and financial aid before and after catastrophic events. In this context, the authors examined (1) the rationale for and resources of federal and state programs that provide natural catastrophe insurance; (2) the extent to which Americans living in catastrophe-prone areas of the United States are uninsured and underinsured, and the types and amounts of federal payments to such individuals since the 2005 hurricanes; and (3) public policy options for revising the federal role in natural catastrophe insurance markets.

This book explores a century of business development of The South African Life Assurance Company, from a specific local focus to a national conglomerate expanding into global insurance markets. Established as a strategic vehicle to address Afrikaner economic marginalization and abject poverty at the beginning of the twentieth century, Sanlam has displayed both path dependence and a dynamic adaptability to complex changing contexts to become a global player. The strategic convergence of economic empowerment through the mobilization of savings into insurance products, as well as Afrikaner nationalism, assisted this growth. Sanlam has played an a-typical role in the economic empowerment of an ethnic entity through extensive investments into the industrializing South African economy. This strategic diversion created operational limitations that were only resolved early in the twenty-first century. As globalization, financial deregulation, and weakened Afrikaner political and social hegemony manifested, strategic change management relied on the path dependence of empowerment strategies to address new markets with similar needs to those of the early stakeholder market of 1918. The former mutual life office demutualized operations to become a diversified financial services group of companies operating across almost the entire African continent, as well as in India, Malaysia, and the UK. This volume presents a business history of strategic management of an insurance enterprise, and its transformation from a defined cultural context into an international empowerment strategy through innovation on all levels of business operation and organization. This book is an Open Access publication, available online under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

The consolidation among German carriers and a wave of new foreign providers have changed the conditions in the German industrial insurance market drastically. To stay competitive nowadays, industrial insurers have to adjust to the modified conditions of competition and have to develop new strategic competitive advantages. The key issue for carriers is thereby the identification, development and fostering of determinants which influence the buying decision of insurance buyers. The buyer perception of overall competitiveness is strongly related to the actual decision to buy. This book reviews academic and professional literature on competitive factors of industrial insurers and identifies a set of 10 competitive factors that is heavily used across previous studies. The author Christian B. Schmitz examines these 10 factors through a survey sent to insurance buyers in the market, identifies the most substantial competitive factors and gives recommendations how industrial insurers can improve their competitiveness. The book is addressed to professionals of industrial insurers, to brokers and corporate risk managers as well as to academics and students.

Help your clients attract and retain high caliber employees with this new, compact reference guide. An ideal educational tool for today's information-hungry and time strapped professional, this book includes an overview of the various compensation plans available, the many features each plan offers, and a summary of how they compare and can be applied to different scenarios.'The Society of Financial Professionals has long been dedicated to the principle of providing ongoing education to the industry. Now, this compelling new guide continues the tradition and the legacy of learning"by Alan R. Ziegler, CEBS, CLU, ChFCPresident, Society of Financial ProfessionalsTo attract and retain top tier employees, employers must craft appealing compensation plans. Individuals need information on the many plans available to determine which will benefit them most when negotiating new contracts. And today's busy financial service professionals need to stay abreast of all the latest plans - so they can advise their clients accordingly.Now, the Society of Financial Professionals has teamed up with tax and compensation planning expert, Lou Shuntich, to bring it all together in one compact volume. This 'one-stop" source provides a concise, to-the-point overview of.. The various plans available.. The significant features of each plan offers.. And a summary of how they compare and can be applied to different scenarios.The compact, easy reference format makes this guide simple to use. Concise, straightforward chapters address the various tax and ERISA issues that must be evaluated, and an easy-reading chart covers the comparison criteria needed to draw sound conclusions.

A flexible labor market and an open economy are crucial to economic competitiveness, but can sometimes cause prime-aged and older workers to suffer large, long-term income losses. This report explains why existing government programs, which emphasize retraining and insurance for short-term job loss, don't assuage workers' fears about globalization. It also proposes a shift of resources from existing programs to wage insurance.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

In Answer To A Pamphlet Intitled, Sir Isaac Newton's Tables For Renewing And Purchasing Leases, Etc. And To A Letter Added To It Intitled, The Value Of Church And College Leases Considered, Etc.

A captive insurance company is, in a nutshell, an insurance company formed by a business owner to insure the risks of the operating business. The operating business pays premiums to the captive, and the captive insures the risks of the operating business. A captive is much more than an exotic form of self-insurance: It is the creation of a new insurance company that has the potential to grow from being a mere captive into a full-blown insurance company seeking to profit from underwriting the risks of others. "Adkisson's Captive Insurance Companies" provides a basic introduction to captives and their benefits, including: utilize your own experience ratings; recapture underwriting profits; underwrite exposed risks and deductibles; access the reinsurance markets; and transfer wealth between generations. This book also provides a unique look at the wealth transfer, accumulation and preservation advantages of captives, as well as an overview of the types of captives, taxation of captives, and captive domiciles.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Since 1973 the exchange rates of major currencies have been permitted to float freely against one another. This, along with an increase in the volume of the world trade, has escalated foreign currency risk. Exchange rate movements have a significant impact on companies engaged in international trade. In contrast to big multinational companies, that have a broad range of tools available to reduce their foreign currency exposure, middle-sized companies have only limited possibilities to hedge their foreign exchange rate risk. The aim of the paper is to examine all available hedging techniques that can be utilized by a middle-sized company and to analyse the impact of an effective foreign exchange risk management on the value of the company. The paper begins with an overview of the foreign exchange market and detailed analysis of models that are used to make short-, medium- and longterm exchange rate forecasts. Further on, the book examines the impact of FX hedging procedures on the company and presents pro and counterarguments of corporate hedging. Finally, different internal and external hedging techniques are examined in order to make recommendations on when a particular hedging technique should be used.

This is the best book you can own on the strategies YOU need to use to get the insurance companies to pay you ALL the money you are entitled to collect when you have a claim. Wouldn't you agree that nothing else matters about insurance other than getting the claim PAID IN FULL?
In this book, you will learn:
- The games and scams insurance companies use to cut costs and keep claim payments at the lowest amounts possible
- When it's the right time to use an attorney
- How you can take control of your claim, and not allow the insurance company or claims adjuster to control YOU
- What a Public Adjuster is, and the valuable help you can get from Public Adjusters
- That the insurance adjuster is NOT there to help you
- and much more
You will learn:
- What to do when you have a car accident...BEFORE you open the car door or talk to anyone
- How much MORE money I collected (thousands!) in the two little claims I had while writing this book
- About Diminished Value on automobiles, and how it can cost you THOUSANDS if you don't fight
- About cheap aftermarket auto parts that insurance companies LOVE, but leave you less safe
- And so much more
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you carry a spare tire and jumper cables in the trunk of your car?
Do you have a toolbox at home?
Have you ever bought a book or read an article that showed you how to fix something?
Do you own a first aid kit?
Do you have a fire extinguisher or smoke alarms in your home?
Why would you do ANY of those things?
Answer: So you are prepared BEFORE something bad happens.
READ THIS BOOK BEFORE SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO YOU!!!READ THIS BOOK AFTER SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO YOU, TO KEEP IT FROM GETTING WORSE!
This book should be on the shelf in EVERY HOME. This book should be in EVERY automobile glove box.

STEAL, CHEAT, AND LIE YOUR WAY TO THE TOP--a growing practice on both sides of the Atlantic that's costing consumers millions each year. Marine insurance is based on Uberrimae Fidei or utmost good faith but it hasn't worked out that way. Author Ed Geary closely examines the schemes of marine insurance fraud and conspiracy that involves not only boat owners and policy holders, but insurance brokers, and marine underwriters. Geary's disclosure of the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine Operation Deep Six to destabilize the elected government of Venezuela and install Hugo Chavez as president put him in the cross-hairs of the Agency. Silencing him became an even greater priority when Geary exposed the CIA's theft of high value yachts used in idiotic schemes to smuggle of narcotics from Colombia to the United States. Association that ultimately destroyed an organization that's been around before the reign of Queen Victoria and exposes the fraud and trickle-down-corruption that has tainted the Lloyd's Agency System. fraudulent ship valuation conspiracy by the once reliable Lloyd's List in London challenges the imagination.

Long before the age of "Big Data" or the rise of today's "self-quantifiers," American capitalism embraced "risk"--and proceeded to number our days. Life insurers led the way, developing numerical practices for measuring individuals and groups, predicting their fates, and intervening in their futures. Emanating from the gilded boardrooms of Lower Manhattan and making their way into drawing rooms and tenement apartments across the nation, these practices soon came to change the futures they purported to divine. How Our Days Became Numbered tells a story of corporate culture remaking American culture--a story of intellectuals and professionals in and around insurance companies who reimagined Americans' lives through numbers and taught ordinary Americans to do the same. Making individuals statistical did not happen easily. Legislative battles raged over the propriety of discriminating by race or of smoothing away the effects of capitalism's fluctuations on individuals. Meanwhile, debates within companies set doctors against actuaries and agents, resulting in elaborate, secretive systems of surveillance and calculation. Dan Bouk reveals how, in a little over half a century, insurers laid the groundwork for the much-quantified, risk-infused world that we live in today. To understand how the financial world shapes modern bodies, how risk assessments can perpetuate inequalities of race or sex, and how the quantification and claims of risk on each of us continue to grow, we must take seriously the history of those who view our lives as a series of probabilities to be managed.

Insurance Decision Making and Market Behavior discusses such behavior with the intent of categorizing these insurance "anomalies". It represents a first step in constructing a theory of insurance decision making to explain behavior that does not conform to standard economic models of choice and decision-making. Finally, the authors propose a set of prescriptive solutions for improving insurance decision-making. Considerable evidence suggests that many people for whom insurance is worth purchasing do not have coverage and others who appear not to need financial protection against certain events actually have purchased coverage. There are certain types of events for which one might expect to see insurance widely marketed are now viewed today by insurers as uninsurable and there are other policies one might not expect to be successfully marketed that exist on a relatively large scale. In addition, evidence suggests that cost-effective preventive measures are sometimes rewarded by insurers in ways that could change their clients' behavior. These examples reveal that insurance purchasing and marketing activities do not always produce results that are in the best interest of individuals at risk. Insurance Decision Making and Market Behavior discusses such behavior with the intent of categorizing these insurance "anomalies". It represents a first step in constructing a theory of insurance decision making to explain behavior that does not conform to standard economic models of choice and decision-making. Finally, the authors propose a set of prescriptive solutions for improving insurance decision-making.

First Practical Guide to Integrating Risk Management, Business Continuity Management and Corporate Governance From Two World-Renowned BCM Pioneers Who Have Served on the British Standards Institution (BSI) Team Creating a British and International Standard for Risk Management. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently developing disaster preparedness standards for businesses. DHS is incorporating language from the British Standards Institution (BSI) because it "provides a management systems approach to business continuity and integrates risk management disciplines and processes." The two authors of this now classic text in the field have been directly involved in developing those BSI standards. Here they bring you a distillation of their worldwide experience in pioneering the integration of the disciplines of risk management and business continuity. This practical guide is endorsed by: * * * The Business Continuity Institute * * * The Institute for Risk Management * * * Disaster Recovery Institute International It includes numerous helpful features: * * * Chapter objectives, summaries and bibliographies; charts, sample forms, checklists throughout * * * Plentiful case studies, in boxed text, drawn from enterprises around the globe, including the UK, US, Europe, Australia, Asia, etc. * * * Boxed inserts summarizing key concepts * * * Glossy of 150 risk management and business continuity terms * * * Timely topics, including stakeholder management, supplier management, outsourcing, the people factor, technology recovery, and communication, both internally and externally. * * * Wide range of challenges, including supply chain disruptions, media and brand attack, product contamination and product recall, bomb threats, chemical and biological threats, etc. * * * Instructions for designing/executing team exercises with role playing to rehearse scenarios * * * Guidance on how to develop a business continuity plan, including a Business Impact Analysis * * * Ideal for senior undergraduate, MBA, certificate, corporate training programs; in use at 50+ campuses worldwide * * * Instructor Materials on CD, including PowerPoint slides and syllabus for 12-week course with lecture outlines/notes, quizzes, reading assignments, discussion topics, projects * * * Authors with extensive international experience in all aspects of risk management and business continuity, having worked with organizations in a combined total of 50 countries The authors' message is that risk management has become a strategic tool in managing all risk across an organization, and that BCM forms one more important tool in a much wider and coordinated risk management program. They are now complementary disciplines that must be understood and supported by your organization as a whole, including CEO's, directors, non- executive directors, risk managers, continuity managers, internal and external auditors, investment managers, compliance managers, finance directors, human resource managers, project managers, regulators, corporate trainers and other stakeholders. After discussing the relationship between risk management and BCM, the authors take the reader through the business continuity management cycle: how to understand the organization and its culture; continuity strategies; how to develop and implement a business continuity response, including developing a Business Impact Analysis; building and embedding a business continuity culture; testing/exercising a plan, along with benchmarking, maintenance and audit. "This book is a must read for those senior managers, risk managers and continuity managers who have the vision to see both the new opportunities and the new responsibilities of business continuity management." - George J. Mitchell, Chairman, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary; Former Senate Majority Leader and U.S. Senator for Maine.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has grown from one man in 1927 to one of the largest insurance brokers in the world with over 8,000 employees. 'This is a book about a business and a family that, by its example, defines integrity. It is a testament to the fact that business success comes from hardworking, honorable people who care about their clients. Jack Greenberg Former CEO & Chairman, McDonalds Corporation 'Many more decades of the century lie ahead. What makes Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is its culture and its leadership pipeline. These are ingredients of longevity for a successful corporation. Ram Charan World-Renowned Business Consultant, Author, Speaker and Teacher 'I strongly believe that trust and a passionate belief in duty to the client should be the basis of our business. It's good to see The Gallagher Way continuing to show an outstanding example to the industry. Sir David Rowland Former Chairman Lloyd's of London 'Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has established itself as a shining example of how insurance and risk management organizations should function. CPCU, Insurance Institute of America 'This book is a 'must read' for anyone in business who truly values the individual, whether a client or an employee. The Gallagher Way has stood the test of time. James J. O'Connor Former CEO Commonwealth Edison Platinum 400 Best Big Companies in America Forbes Magazine, 2004 & 2005

Escape the endless LTC marketing gimmicks by the so called experts and enjoy a real world selling approach from someone who's actually done it! Curt Vahle takes you from the lead card through to the sale and shows you step by step how to sell this most mysterious of insurance products. . .LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE!

This book is a guide to implementation of World-Class Business Continuity Management within an enterprise. It may be used as a step-by-step guide by those new to Business Continuity Management or dipped into by the more seasoned professional for ideas and updates on specific topics. There is no absolute "right way" to perform business continuity management - although there are plenty of wrong ways. Business Continuity is not rocket science: it is applied common sense. Yes, experience helps, but it is no mystic art. This book makes the processes transparent and provide the reader with everything necessary to do the job. Many examples are provided throughout this guide: these all have their roots in real cases and real organizations, and come heavily laden with pragmatism. Over fifteen years of business continuity experience in environments large and small, public and private, has gone into developing the methods described. Your own "right way" for business continuity management means picking, matching and tailoring from the cases and examples provided and combining these with existing best practice within your organization. EXCERPT FROM THE PREFACE Melvyn Musson, FBCI, CBCP, CISSP I was very pleased to be asked to write a preface to this much-needed book. There are many books that have been written covering various aspects of hazard control, emergency response, disaster recovery and business continuity, but not one that pulls all areas together under the auspices of the individual sections of the BCI and DRII Professional Practices. Why my interest? To quote from a letter I wrote to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in 1991 when they were considering the establishment of a Technical Committee to develop a Standard on Disaster Management: "Disaster Management, or Business Continuation Planning as we prefer to call it, is a natural progression from Hazard/Loss Control through Emergency Response to the recovery process. "The best hazard/loss control programs cannot prevent emergency or catastrophic situations occurring. The emergency response procedures that most companies have developed or which may be required by law, deal with such aspects as initial fire fighting, evacuation, life safety, etc. - what one might term the stabilization of the situation. They cover the first hours of the emergency. They do not deal with the long-term recovery, which could take several months. "Disaster Management, or some other similarly named program, is needed to enable the company to institute procedures to return to normal operations as soon as possible. That standard is now available as NFPA 1600: Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. Within that standard are details of the BCI/DRII Professional Practices, albeit as part of the various sections of the standard and not as an individual, specific section. In addition to NFPA 1600, other standards and guides such as BS7779 in Great Britain and the recent Australian Risk Management Standard are incorporating the Professional Practices either by specific reference or wording relating to the practices. The advent of the Turnbull Report introduces a new consideration and need, which the Professional Practices can support. This makes it all the more important to have a reference material that can clearly detail what should be considered in each of the ten subject areas, together with appropriate examples and details of not only the benefits but also the problems that can be expected with each of those subject areas. Andrew Hiles has been able to do so in the development of this book. In addition, since Andrew intends to issue periodic updates, this book becomes a living document, which will address both changes in the Professional Practices and developments within the industry.