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CRO RISK FORUM: The rise and rise of the CRO

18 August 2009

Chief risk officers are in the ascendancy but their role needs tying down, say PWC’s Ian Dilks and Paul Horgan*

Five to 10 years ago, the vast majority of insurance groups around the world did not have a chief risk officer (CRO), let alone a well-developed risk function. Ironically, although insurance is about taking on and managing other people’s risk, the idea of having a CRO to manage internal risk was relatively new.The role is more commonplace today – and became so even before global events conspired to put risk right at the top of boardroom agendas – but difficulties in recruiting suitable candidates point to a role that is still in its formative stages. For example at a recent industry event hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC),  the risk officers present came from all sorts of backgrounds – auditors, consultants, company secretaries, underwriters – and nobody had been in the CRO role for more than two years.We have yet to settle into any kind of norm as to what exactly the...


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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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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