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More than 300 specialists and executives from the business, public sector and academic worlds gathered at the SWISS GRC DAY 2026 at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Zurich Airport to discuss current challenges and developments in the field of governance, risk and compliance. The event focused on the impact of global uncertainties, the importance of a strong risk culture, and how organisations can better understand risks and make more informed decisions.
The SWISS GRC DAY 2026 was officially opened by Besfort Kuqi, Founder and CEO of Swiss GRC AG. In his welcome address, he thanked the Swiss GRC team for organizing the event and acknowledged the partners who contributed to its success: Silver Partners Swiss Infosec, SecurityScorecard, SNV and CRIF, Knowledge Partner RiskNET, Academic Partner Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), and Media Partners Computerworld, GRC Report and StrategicRISK.
Kuqi emphasized the importance of knowledge sharing and collaboration at a time when organizations face growing geopolitical uncertainty, increasing regulatory demands, cyber threats and technological disruption.
Events such as SWISS GRC DAY provide an opportunity to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions and develop new approaches to managing uncertainty and building resilience.
From Quarantine to Modern Risk Management
The conference was hosted by Nikolai Tsenov, Head Solutions & Innovation at Swiss GRC. He opened the event with a historical perspective on the origins of risk management.
During the plague epidemics of the Middle Ages, arriving ships were required to remain isolated for forty days before unloading. The term quarantine originates from the Italian word quaranta, meaning forty. The underlying principles remain remarkably consistent today: identify risks, structure risks, document risks.
What has changed is the nature of the challenge. Organizations no longer suffer from a lack of information. Instead, they must determine how to translate vast amounts of information into better decisions.
How Risky Is Our World?
This question formed the basis of the keynote delivered by Prof. Dr. Werner GleiĂŸner, CEO of FutureValue Group AG and Professor of Risk Management at TU Dresden.
Risk management should not focus solely on identifying risks. Organizations must understand how uncertainty affects strategy, planning and corporate value. Modern approaches such as risk aggregation, scenario analysis and quantitative risk assessment provide important support for this objective.
Drawing on current research and international studies, GleiĂŸner demonstrated that public perception often differs significantly from actual risk exposure. While certain threats dominate headlines, many strategically relevant risks receive comparatively little attention. Geopolitical instability, macroeconomic uncertainty and potential financial crises continue to pose substantial challenges.
He also stressed that while artificial intelligence will increasingly support risk analysis, it cannot replace human judgment. Models and algorithms remain dependent on the quality of assumptions, data and expert interpretation.
Download presentationQuantifying Risk to Improve Decision-Making
Florian Worm, Head of Enterprise Risk Management at the HARTMANN GROUP, demonstrated how quantitative methods can help organizations better understand uncertainty.
Quantification does not eliminate uncertainty, nor does it predict the future. Instead, it provides greater transparency regarding possible outcomes and their potential impact on organizational objectives.
Particularly in large and complex organizations, risks cannot be assessed in isolation. Understanding interactions and dependencies between risks is essential for evaluating overall exposure and resilience. The presentation highlighted how quantitative approaches support better-informed decisions by making uncertainty more visible and measurable.
Looking Beyond Risk Lists
In her session on black swans, grey rhinos and green dragons, Alexandra Burns, Partner and Head Risk & Regulatory Consulting at PwC, examined the increasing complexity of today's risk landscape.
Resilience depends not only on control mechanisms but also on an organization's ability to anticipate and adapt. Methods such as horizon scanning, strategic foresight and scenario analysis play a critical role in identifying weak signals before they become major disruptions.
She argued that organizations must move beyond static risk registers and begin focusing on interconnected developments and emerging patterns. Geopolitical events, technological innovation, regulatory change and economic uncertainty influence one another and create increasingly complex risk environments.
Download presentationWhy Risk Management Is Ultimately a Question of Culture
Following the networking break, Michael Niedermann, Head Consulting at Swiss GRC, shifted the focus from systems and processes to people.
Risk culture cannot be implemented through policies alone. It is shaped by leadership, trust and the willingness to discuss uncomfortable issues openly.
Despite mature frameworks, policies and technologies, organizations continue to experience failures and unexpected events. The reason often lies not in the absence of controls, but in human behavior — optimism bias, conformity pressure, groupthink and a lack of psychological safety all influence how risks are perceived and communicated.
A live audience survey conducted during the session highlighted that many organizations still face challenges in fostering open communication, leadership accountability and meaningful integration of risk management into decision-making processes.
Download presentationScience Meets Practice
One of the most engaging sessions of the day featured a debate between Prof. Dr. Stefan Hunziker of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Dr. Alexander Hilsbos of Insel Gruppe.
Drawing from both academic research and practical experience, they examined which risk management approaches genuinely support decision-making and which methods may create only an illusion of control. The value of risk management lies not in reports or documentation, but in its ability to improve decisions under uncertainty.
The Human Side of Uncertainty
The conference concluded with an inspiring keynote by Zoya Miari, Founder of Waves to Home. Through personal experiences and powerful storytelling, she brought a human perspective to a day largely focused on governance, strategy and risk.
Her message served as a reminder that behind every risk, crisis and decision are real people whose lives are affected by uncertainty. Trust, empathy and human connection remain essential elements of resilience, both within organizations and across society.
Key Takeaway
SWISS GRC DAY 2026 demonstrated that modern risk management extends far beyond compliance and documentation.
The organizations that will thrive in the future are not those that eliminate risk, but those that understand uncertainty, recognize interdependencies, encourage open dialogue and use risk insights to make better decisions.
