Chief risk officer

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The chief risk officer (CRO), chief risk management officer (CRMO), or chief risk and compliance officer^[1] (CRCO) of a firm or corporation is the executive accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks, and related opportunities, to a business and its various segments.^[2] Risks are commonly categorized as strategic, reputational, operational, financial, or compliance-related. CROs are accountable to the Executive Committee and The Board for enabling the business to balance risk and reward. In more complex organizations, they are generally responsible for coordinating the organization's Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) approach. The CRO is responsible for assessing and mitigating significant competitive, regulatory, and technological threats to a firm's capital and earnings. The CRO roles and responsibilities vary depending on the size of the organization and industry. The CRO works to ensure that the firm is compliant with government regulations, such as Sarbanes–Oxley, and reviews factors that could negatively affect investments. Typically, the CRO is responsible for the firm's risk management operations, including managing, identifying, evaluating, reporting and overseeing the firm's risks externally and internally to the organization and works diligently with senior management such as chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

The role of the chief risk officer (CRO) is becoming increasingly important in financial, investment, and insurance sectors. According to Watson, the majority of CROs agreed that having only exceptional analytical skills is not sufficient. The most successful CROs are able to combine these skills with highly developed commercial, strategic, leadership and communication skill to be able to drive change and make a difference in an organization. CROs typically have post-graduate education with over 20 years of experience in accounting, economics, legal or actuarial backgrounds.^[3][4] A business may find a risk acceptable; however, the company as a whole may not. CROs need to balance risks with financial, investment, insurance, personnel and inventory decisions to obtain an optimum level for stakeholders. According to a study by Morgan McKinley, a successful CRO must be able to deal with complexity and ambiguity, and understand the bigger picture.^[5]

James Lam, a noted risk professional, is credited as the first person to coin the term. Lam is the first person to hold that position at GE Capital in 1993. The position became more common after the Basel Accord, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, and the Turnbull Report.

A main priority for the CRO is to ensure that the organization is in full compliance with applicable regulations and to analyze all risk related issues. They may also be required to work alongside other senior executives such as with a chief compliance officer. They may deal with topics regarding insurance, internal auditing, corporate investigations, fraud, and information security. The responsibilities and requirements to become a chief risk officer vary depending on the size of the organization and the industry, however, most CROs typically have a masters-degree level of education and 10 to 20 years of business-related experience, with actuarial, accounting, economics, and legal backgrounds common. There are many different pathways to becoming a CRO but most organizations prefer to promote their own employees to the position internally.