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CRO RISK FORUM: The path to ERM enlightenment

10 August 2009

Eamonn Cunningham, chief risk officer at Westfield Group in Australia, is infusing risk awareness throughout his organisation - with positive results.

What was your motivation for implementing an ERM programme in the first place?

Our motivation was to adopt best practice in the risk management space. We wanted to bring risk management on a journey from the traditional approach to an advanced or enlightened one. To achieve that we involved the whole business and thus effectively made risk management part of each person's job.

But were there specific risk issues you wanted to tackle initially, such as reputation risk?

No, we were not driven by any single risk factor or motivation. You have to understand our culture. We are leaders in our industry and every part of the group is expected to push the boundaries in their particular field. Risk management is an extension of that philosophy and so we continually ask ourselves: ‘How can we do more?’

How did you go about it?

We used external consultants to give us...


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Poll

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

Less than $3bn
0%
$3bn-$4bn
0%
$4bn-$5bn
0%
$5bn-$6bn
100%
$6bn-$7bn
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Quote

If last year was the year of the cat, then this year could be the year of the debt crisis.

Mike Van Slooten, head of international market analysis at Aon Benfield