In a recent article, Julia Graham, FERMA president and Airmic technical director, has called for risk managers to evolve their skills to assist boards as they grapple with their growing responsibility for risk oversight.
Writing in ‘The road to risk leadership’ Julia makes the following key points:
- Since the financial crisis, there has been an increasing emphasis on the risk oversight responsibilities of board members. They have a variety of crucial risk-related responsibilities, including defining the organization’s risk appetite, gaining assurance concerning the robustness of risk management policies and controls, and promoting an appropriate risk culture throughout the organisation. Realistically, to succeed they need an active partnership with risk managers and other risk-related internal and external stakeholders.
- For the risk management profession, this is a major opportunity to evolve from the role of technical specialist to that of strategic board advisor, with significant influence over a wide range of corporate decision-making.
- Although the tone for risk, risk culture and risk appetite is set from the top of the organization, the risk management professional can step up as a risk leader to help the board deliver its risk responsibilities.
