Page 20 - Insurance Times August 2018

Risk Manager, Responsibilities: Risk Manager : The Current Status :

Risk managers are responsible for managing the risk to the Risk managers work with companies to assess and identify
organisation, its employees, customers, reputation, assets the potential risks that may hinder the reputation, safety,
and interests of stakeholders. They may work in a variety of security and financial prosperity of their organisation.
sectors and may specialize in a number of areas including:
Y Enterprise risk; Once these risks have been identified, assessed and
evaluated, risk managers are then tasked with implementing
Y Corporate governance; processes and procedures to ensure that their client is fully
prepared to deal with any potential threats.
Y Regulatory and operational risk;
A risk manager's job is inspired by the mantra, "prevention
Y Business continuity; is better than cure." It's all about avoiding threats and
mitigating the effects of those which are essentially
Y Information and security risk; unavoidable.

Y Technology risk; Risk management careers are highly analytical and a large
part of your time will be focused on conducting detailed risk
Y Market and credit risk. assessments. This process involves analysing documents,
statistics, reports and market trends. You'll also be required
Y Responsibilities to assess the organisation's previous risk management
policies and protocols.
Specific tasks depend on the industry in which a Risk
Manager is working, how specialized his role is and the level Risk management is also about understanding an
at which he is working. However, key activities may include: organisation's business objectives. You'll need to gather
a) Planning, designing and implementing an overall risk information about your client's outgoings, legal
responsibilities and environmental policies, and then
management process for the organization; evaluate the effects of any proposed risks against these
current processes.
b) Risk assessment, which involves analyzing risks as well
as identifying, describing and estimating the risks Life as a risk manager, however, is not just about going
affecting the business; through information with a fine tooth comb: you'll also need
to have the ability to build relationships with your clients
c) Risk evaluation, which involves comparing estimated risks and their stakeholders. For instance, based on your analysis,
with criteria established by the organization such as costs, you'll have to produce risk reports, attend meetings and
legal requirements and environmental factors, and present your proposals to senior members of staff.
evaluating the organization's previous handling of risks;

d) Establishing and quantifying the organization's 'risk
appetite', i.e. the level of risk they are prepared to
accept;

e) Risk reporting in an appropriate way for different
audiences, for example, to the board of directors so
they understand the most significant risks, to business
heads to ensure they are aware of risks relevant to their
parts of the business and to individuals to understand
their accountability for individual risks;

f) Corporate governance involving external risk reporting
to stakeholders;

g) Carrying out processes such as purchasing insurance,
implementing health and safety measures and making
business continuity plans to limit risks and prepare for
if things go wrong;

h) Conducting audits of policy and compliance to standards,
including liaison with internal and external auditors;

i) Providing support, education and training to staff to
build risk awareness within the organization.

20 The Insurance Times, August 2018