Risk Management

For Flughafen Zürich AG, risk management is a key factor for successful company management. Comprehensive risk management ensures that risks are approached systematically and given due consideration. It guarantees transparency over the main internal and external risks associated with the companyʼs business activities as well as continuous monitoring and improvement of the risk situation.

RISK MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING TOOL

Zurich Airportʼs risk management system is the tool used to manage corporate risk and consists of the following components:

In this context, the Board of Directors and the Management Board have overall responsibility under Swiss company law for ensuring the groupʼs existence and profitability. The Board of Directors is responsible for overall oversight of risk management. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) also acts as the Management Boardʼs Chief Risk Officer.

The central Risk Manager reports to the CFO as Chief Risk Officer and stipulates minimum requirements for decentralised risk management at line management level. The central Risk Manager is responsible for risk reporting as well as the operation and ongoing development of the risk management system.

The Management Board members are each responsible for the risks that could arise primarily in their area. They bear responsibility for identifying, assessing and managing the relevant risks (risk owner concept). The central Risk Manager is responsible for any risks that cannot be assigned to one single area of business.

In consultation with the central Risk Manager, other specialist units perform their specific risk management procedures themselves, such as safety management, liquidity management, occupational safety, information security, fire prevention and contingency planning. The same goes for Flughafen Zürich AGʼs international subsidiaries. From this, the key risks to Flughafen Zürich AG are incorporated into the central risk reporting. This describes the business risks in detail and assesses their probability of occurrence and operational and financial impact as well as measures and responsibilities. Implementation of the measures is continually monitored. The risk report is presented to the Management Board and the Board of Directors once a year.

Compliance Management

Flughafen Zürich AG operates a compliance management system as a component of its risk management, the aim being to systematically identify, understand and comply with the applicable statutory requirements as well as the internal corporate guidelines and ethical principles based on those requirements.

For this purpose, the processes at Flughafen Zürich AG are structured into cross-divisional clusters, each of which is supervised by a specialist (process owner). This specialist is responsible for training line managers within the process cluster. The process owner also performs the checks required in the context of compliance audits and reports to the central Compliance Manager. Ultimate responsibility for compliance with laws, guidelines and principles lies with line management. A broadly based Compliance Steering Committee headed by the Chief Risk Officer monitors consistent and uniform implementation of compliance management procedures.

Issues from the compliance reporting that could give rise to significant risks to Flughafen Zürich AG are incorporated into the risk reporting.

Once a year, the central Compliance Manager produces a comprehensive compliance report on behalf of the Chief Risk Officer and based on information provided by the process owners. This report is submitted to the Management Board and the Board of Directors.