Has your institution appointed a chief risk officer yet?(Enterprise Risk Management)

There can be little question that the financial services industry performed remarkably well through the last credit cycle. Many, including Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, credit the industry's strong performance to improved risk management. RMA would certainly agree that risk management--particularly that with an enterprise-wide focus--has made great strides over the past decade. Ten years ago, few institutions had a chief risk officer; now most of the top 100 have appointed a CRO and developed and implemented an enterprise risk management framework.

Indeed, in 2000 RMA's Board of Directors changed the organization's name to the Risk Management Association. RMA has since embarked upon an ambitious expansion program to move beyond our traditional focus on credit risk to encompass operational and market risk as well.

The increased attention to enterprise risk management within the industry first began to gain momentum after the release of the Supervision by Risk guidelines by the bank regulatory agencies in 1995. Examiners began to focus on an institution's overall risk management procedures and capabilities in addition to individual activities and transactions.

During the intervening years the regulators have increased their focus on internal risk management procedures. Indeed, a number of institutions have been told to improve their internal risk management practices, some quite publicly so. This has certainly accelerated the appointment of chief risk officers within the industry and the …