Replies

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  Martin Snyman May 12, 2011 13:11

  In South Africa there is an increase in demand for Project Risk Management and to a lesser degree Quant skills on projects.  This is largely drivven by massive infrastructure development projects.  Rates are also increasing rapidly for these skills as they are in very short supply.
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  Jorge Iwaszkiewicz April 2, 2011 14:12

  Risk management is becoming more prevalent in Asia, Africa and certain regions in LAtin America. However, it seems that first we need to have a clearer standard definition for risk (ISO 31000, COSO, etc,.). It would be nice to sort of bring together all these into some international accepted standard so that we can then "talk the same talk".

  As for priorities in risk, depending on where you are located (industrialized/non-industrialized) then risk needs to be defined and documented for each particular institution and based on guidelines from Basel II and/or III (which is a challenge).

  Lets get all the basic risks under control (market, operational, etc,.) and then we can focus on what is the new focus.

   

  BTW, also would be nice if someone can indicate where a --(simplified) Risk manual is available....or at least someone to post a "generic" Table of Contents?

   
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  Nihal Peter Moraes March 26, 2011 14:38

  Was interested in know what is the skill set looked for in the non-financial risk management sector. More along the lines of Operational risk in the shipping sector and crisis management -cum- disaster resolving scheme of affairs.
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  Rex Johnson December 30, 2010 23:47

  I feature FRM, highly relevant hedge funds experience, and extensive, senior level as well as hands-on IT skills. I've been in job search in the NYC area for several years with hardly a nibble.

   

  -- for what it's worth
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  SEVAISTRE Pierre December 15, 2010 2:59

  There is demand but little available money and even less experience for non-financial risk Management in Japan.

  As usual, people tend to the easy-to-understand-hard-to-treat Business Continuity and Reputation risks. More important Strategy risks are often forgotten because people do not find the way to mitigate them. But Strategy Risks should not be mitigated, they should be optimized during the strategy decision process.

  The main necessary skill in that non-financial area is less the technicalities of Risk Management than a good understanding of how companies work inside. 
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  Richard Ellis PMP PRM December 14, 2010 17:44

  The vast majority of the pool of available Risk Management talent developed their experience at organizations where the practice of Risk Management has been far too silo-ed for a present day effective GRC.  Risk Management is a new professional category. Risk management practices, however, have developed and been employed for many years. These practices evolved in many areas of organizations for many purposes. As such, there are different standards of terms and best practices. Metrics of quantifiable and characterization descriptions for non quantifiable risks are not widely applied across silos. Even the definitions of what risks exist are not universally agreed upon at the enterprise level.

  While risk professional organizations including PRMIA, GARP and RIMS have fostered convergence of risk management practice, few available candidates hold designations such as the Professional Risk Manager (PRM), Financial Risk Manager (FRM) or RIMS Fellow (RF).

   

  Richard Ellis, PMP PRM

   

   

  Joy Das said:

  There's isn't enough talent. Risk management - market, credit, operational - requires sound math skills and most importantly, ability to interpret various risk metrics in laymen's terms to the audience so that they can appreciate the inherent risk and ensure that such risk is within the entity's risk appetite.
  Understanding how various market parameters are correlated with each other and with fundamentals is crucial. For e.g., I would like to see candidates understand how does interest rate differentials between two countries affect foreign exchange rates between those two nations; what does high gold prices tell you about economy and what, if any, impact does it have on your entity's balance sheet consisting of rates, commodities and fx positions? Or, can you replicate a short strangle that yields approximately same net delta?
  Basel III is definitely a hot field now as most financial institutions are required to comply with the new rules in th enerar future.
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  Edward Collins December 14, 2010 15:18

  To add to the lists submitted by others, I would also add International Financial Reporting Standards and conversion from US GAAP in particular; compliance with the revised International Standards for the Practice of Internal Auditing, which are not daunting but do have nuances for internal audit charters, external review of internal audit practices and attestation of compliance; and last but not least, methods for convincing management that serious risk assessment is an act of self preservation as well as a good thing in general. There is so much ego involved in this last element that it is difficult to convince management that they are not all knowing and that their risk assessment processes should be transparent, documented and effective.

   

  And to answer the basic question: no, there is not enough talent. We have tons of traditionalists, but not enough people who can think outside the box and really examine corporate risks, and then to expose those risks and mitigate them in a way that managements will accept.
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  nmeht December 10, 2010 14:12

  I believe that earlier people have rightly commented on areas of operational risk, IT, finance and market risk. Not mentioning credit risk as this is a much more matured field. 

   I want to emphasise that overall management skills with indepth understanding and application of risk management and right governance align to business growth is the main skill set of CRO. This shapes the tone at the top. I believe that amount of skills at junior level cum MIS will not be of much use if the same is not applied in decision making by senior management. Even though many CROs are upcoming, there are few who are making timely influence and  application. I think this can be attributed to lack of understanding of overall strategy cum growth of the institution,  voice of risk manager not heard at top and proactivce steps not taken by risk manager cum the credibility.
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  Rommel Verdugo, CPC, CICA December 6, 2010 23:35

  ERM and Operational Risk seems to be important items in the emerging markets arena. I believe there is not enough talent
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  Stella A. Attakpah December 6, 2010 15:42

  Just forgot to mention that there is short supply of experts in the Africa region.
  
  Stella A. Attakpah said:

  Compliance and IT related risk management seem to be the hot cake in financial and non-financial institutions in Africa.