The chief risk officer (CRO) or chief risk management officer (CRMO) of a 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. Risks are commonly categorized as strategic, reputational, operational, financial, or compliance-related. CRO's 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 position became more common after the Basel Accord, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Turnbull Report
A main priority for the CRO is to ensure that the organisation is in full compliance with applicable regulations (chief compliance officer). They may also deal with topics regarding insurance, internal auditing, corporate investigations, fraud, and information security. CRO's typically have post-graduate education and 20+ years of business experience, with actuarial, accounting, economics, and legal backgrounds common.
Famous quotes containing the words chief, risk and/or officer:
“The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)