ERM Focus is Global

The increasing emphasis on enterprise risk management (ERM) in the wake of the latest financial crisis is global.  As evidence, the Institute of Actuaries of Australia conducted a survey last week on ERM practices with the following results.

The online Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) survey was conducted by the Institute of Actuaries a week before its ERM seminar held in Sydney yesterday. It showed that while more than 85 per cent of respondents, comprising senior financial services executives, actuaries and risk managers, revealed a heightened awareness of risk management, they still saw weaknesses in a number of risk management areas.

Some 60 per cent said the area of most improvement was reporting at board level, 50 per cent stated the greatest improvement was in risk governance processes and 50 per cent stated that the risk culture had changed and people were more likely to speak up about possible risks.

As companies and individuals become more interconnected across the globe, this added emphasis on ERM is critical in helping avert a crisis as severe as the last.