Risks and insurance

The main aim of this article is to help "decision-makers" manage their company's residual risks effectively. To this end, the logic of books dealing with insurance is reversed: first, the risks that can affect the smooth running of a company are considered, and then insurance products are defined. Thus, it is :

• identify the risks that could affect the company's resources, and then name the products used to hedge these risks;

• presented the characteristics of the insurance world and its products.

To make the presentation more usable, the last paragraph is devoted to the life cycle of a policy ("Fire"), from the expression of the decision-maker's need to the settlement of a claim by the insurer. The main concepts presented in the other paragraphs are explained in concrete terms.

The secondary objective of this article is to help an insurer understand the problems encountered by decision-makers in identifying their insurance product needs and formalizing them.

It should be noted that, in France, insurance taken out by companies can be divided into :

• property and liability insurance. The aim of property insurance is to provide financial compensation for damage to a company's assets (tangible or intangible). Liability insurance, on the other hand, is designed to cover the damaging consequences (bodily, material or immaterial) for which a company may be liable to third parties;

• secondly, personal insurance, if it enables us to provide for the following events: death, bodily injury, illness and retirement.

This article deals only with property and liability insurance.