We're just a few hours into day one of the ERM Symposium, but already I've heard a number of recurring themes from some of the attendees.

Insurance companies here are talking about the soft market and the challenge of managing through pricing declines. In addition, many are talking about how they can raise their ERM process to the next level of maturity.

Most of the ERM programs now in place struggle with creating a process that is more frequent than annual. Other frequently cited challenges include the integration of risk dependencies and correlations, decision making for deployment of limited mitigation capital, and the ability to quantify operational and strategic risk.

It seems there is more urgency now from senior management to improve their early maturity level and resulting business value.

Of course, these are just a few anecdotal reports. But we'll continue to report on what we hear from the halls of the Symposium.