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CRO Risk Forum Foreword by James Lam: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

28 July 2009

James Lam, president of James Lam & Associates, on the changes that are needed in risk management.

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As the old slogan goes: “You’ve come a long way, baby.” So goes the role of the CRO. Since the role was first established in the financial services industry in the early 1990s, it has been adopted globally across all major industries. CROs have indeed come a long way over the past fifteen years, rising up in organisations in terms of rank and compensation.

When I started my risk management career in the early 1980s, risk managers could only aspire to be the head of a specific risk function, such as chief actuary, chief credit officer, or asset/liability manager. Today, a risk manager can aspire to be the CRO who reports to the CEO and sometimes directly to the board. More recently, an increasing number of CROs have even made their way into the corner office and the board room.

However, the role of the CRO has a...


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Catastrophe bond issuance was $4.3bn in 2011. How much new issuance will there be in 2012?

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