Chief risk officer position, a universal mainstay

Chief risk officers (CROs) are multiplying in the financial services sector and expected to grow exponentially in other industries. According to a recent survey of 137 global risk managers conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), mounting regulatory pressures and a daunting array of business threats are generating the need for enterprise risk assessment. Representing 17 different worldwide industries, 45% of the surveyed executives reported that their company already appointed a CRO or equivalent and 24 % reported they had not yet enlisted a CRO, however they claimed the position would be filled in the next two years. Only 31% of the respondents claimed that their company had no plans to appoint a CRO or equivalent.Driving a company’s desire to hire a risk manager is the potential to expand the risk management sector’s ability to address more risk, according to 52% of respondents. Better investment decisions, reduction in financial loses, enhanced governance standards and efficacious compliance adherence were also cited as a key benefits sought from a CRO. Essential attributes associated to a CRO include: the ability to understand broad business issues, according to 61% of those surveyed; technical risk skills, according to 37%; and a strong background in finance, according to 31%. The financial sector further states that integrating risk data from multiple systems and processes is important while the non-financial firms are more concerned about managing risk across globally dispersed operations.Over the next three years, risk mangers claim that monitoring emerging risks and extending risk principles into wider strategy will assume greater importance for all industries.