Featured Column
CRO Outlook
By: Brenda Boultwood
Thought-provoking views on culture, governance, ERM, operational risk, supply-chain risk and geopolitics, from the mind of a former chief risk officer.
The Geopolitical Root Cause: When Macro Shocks Become Idiosyncratic Realities
June 5, 2026
We spent 30 years architecting the “optimized” enterprise on the assumption of perpetual commercial peace, only to find that in a fragmenting world, ...
Read ArticleThe CEO’s Tragic Mind: Character, Appetite, and the Burden of Choice
May 1, 2026
To lead effectively in a post-truth world, a CEO must embrace “Aletheia,” the tragic awareness of reality that transforms organizational risk ...
Read ArticleTo Be a Great Risk Manager, Think Tragically
April 2, 2026
The modern Chief Risk Officer must think tragically to avoid tragedy, navigating the productive tension between the austerely rational and the ...
Read ArticleThe Risk of Silence: The High Cost of the Quiet Room
March 6, 2026
Silence is lack of action. Over time, it’s complicity. Complicity becomes long-term reputation risk, with impacts on company valuation and employee ...
Read ArticleA Look Ahead: The Financial Literacy Twist
January 30, 2026
Traditional financial wisdom is diverging from the lived experiences of Millennial and Gen Z workers.
Read ArticleERM: An Antidote to Financial Vulgarity
January 9, 2026
Avoiding crypto-stuffed SPACs and other nonsensical risks should not depend on sixth-sense intuition. A proper risk appetite framework can make clear ...
Read ArticleOur Roach Motels
December 5, 2025
Profitable growth means companies are “roach motels” – always full of risk. Banks will make informed decision-making tradeoffs between risk-taking ...
Read ArticleAI Bubble or Boom? They Are Two Sides of the Same Coin. The Risks Are No Different.
November 7, 2025
In an attention economy where lots of hype is needed to attract capital investments, we may go through a bubble to find the boom. Large ...
Read ArticleERM: Risk Aggregation, Risk Prioritization and Linking Risks to Organizational Strategy
October 10, 2025
How do we, as risk officers, create an efficient mechanism to prioritize risk? How do we link priority risks to the organization's strategic ...
Read ArticleERM: Risk Treatment
September 5, 2025
The chief risk officer must establish the approach to decision-making when risks are outside of tolerable levels. Will a new, higher risk level be ...
Read ArticleERM and Risk Appetite
August 1, 2025
A key role of the chief risk officer is managing the organization’s guardrails in risk-taking. Is the organization willing to take more credit risk ...
Read ArticleERM: Risk Identification and Assessment
June 20, 2025
Chief risk officers often rely on a standard methodology to manage trend analysis, resource allocations, risk comparisons and risk reporting ...
Read ArticleERM: Risk Versus Uncertainty
May 23, 2025
Chief risk officers seeking to develop an enterprise risk management program must distinguish established risks from those that are shrouded in ...
Read ArticleERM: The Importance of Building a Risk Taxonomy
April 17, 2025
Chief risk officers seeking to develop an enterprise risk management program must standardize the language of risk. What are the elements of a proper ...
Read ArticleIt’s CRO Performance Evaluation Time
February 21, 2025
Chief risk officers need to understand how CEOs assess their impact and value, as well as how they can properly express their worth.
Read ArticleA Risk Forecast for 2025: 5 Predictions
January 17, 2025
Chief risk officers will need to augment traditional risk assessment with a new approach to radical uncertainties.
Read ArticleMossad-Hezbollah Aftermath: A New Perspective on Third-Party Risks
November 25, 2024
Although the war in the Middle East seems distant, recent attacks involving electronic devices have reminded us about the need for effective ...
Read ArticleHow to Manage Uninsured Deposit Liquidity Risk
September 20, 2024
Recent bank failures have confirmed that managing liquidity risk remains a complex and daunting task. This is particularly true for firms with large ...
Read ArticleHow to Better Manage Operational Risk in Uncertain, Volatile Times
August 9, 2024
Banks must now contend with complex cyber hazards, growing AI and a variety of other threats, but there are specific steps they can take to improve ...
Read ArticleAvoiding the Risk Management Growth Trap
July 19, 2024
Banks that grow too fast are prone to failure, especially when they lack proper governance and risk management frameworks. But there are steps they ...
Read ArticleAre Board Risk Committees Up to the Task of Overseeing Large, Complex Banks?
June 21, 2024
Big banks today boast board risk committees, but the members of those committees often lack the risk expertise needed to ask tough questions on ...
Read ArticleIs the Three Lines of Defense Paradigm Dead?
May 24, 2024
A three-pronged approach to risk management has been widely employed by the financial services industry for the past 10 years. This model, however, ...
Read ArticleReflections on Daniel Kahneman’s Contributions to Risk Management: The Power of Human Frailties
April 12, 2024
All major risk management failures of the past 50 years have been driven at least partly by human biases and tendencies. Now is a good time to ...
Read ArticleBalancing the Business Model and Concentration Risk
March 15, 2024
It is extremely difficult to identify, measure and manage adverse concentrations. Why is it important to understand the effects of concentration risk ...
Read ArticleGeopolitical Risk Is Spreading Across the Risk Spectrum. Are You Prepared?
February 9, 2024
Whether we’re talking about, say, the Israel-Hamas armed conflict, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, or attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the ...
Read ArticleNew Year's Resolutions for Risk Managers in 2024
January 12, 2024
Finding balance in managing risk and return is extremely challenging, especially during periods of uncertainty fueled by geopolitical tensions, cyber ...
Read ArticleThe FHFA's New Vision: A Wonderful Life for the Federal Home Loan Banks?
December 15, 2023
FHLBanks have moved away from their intended mission as community-oriented mortgage lenders and are therefore in need of a revamp. The Federal ...
Read ArticleOperational Risk Capital Proposal: Time to Hit the Pause Button
November 17, 2023
The so-called Basel III Endgame could lead to significant amendments in operational loss estimation at big banks. But these recommended regulatory ...
Read ArticleHow to Reduce Bank Failures: A Novel Approach
October 13, 2023
Poor risk governance, culture and infrastructure have been responsible for many financial meltdowns, including this year’s SVB and Signature Bank ...
Read ArticleSVB and Signature Bank Fallout: Why We Need a New Approach to Regional Bank Regulation and Risk Management
September 8, 2023
Regulators seem intent on once again increasing capital and liquidity requirements for banks of a certain size – but data shows that mid-sized ...
Read ArticleThe Commercial Real Estate Dilemma and Its Impact on Bank Risk Management
July 14, 2023
Banks that are heavily invested in the troubled CRE market now face a variety of complex risks, from the remote work trend to rising inflation to the ...
Read ArticleThe Fed’s Report on Silicon Valley Bank: Key Risk Takeaways
June 9, 2023
There was plenty of blame to go around for the demise of SVB, but regulatory findings show that banks require more proactive boards and need to ...
Read ArticleFirst Republic Fallout: A Call for More Effective Bank Board Risk Committees
May 2, 2023
The collapse and eventual sale of First Republic was a stark reminder that greater scrutiny of interest rate, liquidity and credit risks is needed to ...
Read ArticleReimagining the Federal Home Loan Bank System
April 6, 2023
How can we reduce systemic risk and create more competition in the U.S. mortgage secondary market? A pair of GSEs currently dominate this space, but ...
Read ArticleSilicon Valley Bank: A Failure in Risk Management
March 14, 2023
What drove the collapse of SVB? Insufficient board oversight, incomplete modeling and poor liquidity risk management practices were among the key ...
Read ArticleThe Risk Appetite Dilemma: How to Overcome Obstacles and Enhance Risk-Adjusted Return
February 17, 2023
Risk appetite statements can yield many benefits, but only when they adhere to established risk-tolerance levels and make use of proper metrics that ...
Read ArticleReducing Operational Risk with Systems Engineering
January 13, 2023
What are the underlying problems behind the operational failures that have plagued large banks? Should they consider a systems engineering approach ...
Read ArticleFTX Fiasco: Risk Management Lessons Learned
December 16, 2022
The failure of the crypto giant has shined a spotlight on the crucial role of CEOs, who must lead the development of comprehensive, engaging risk ...
Read ArticleHow to Avoid the Risk Mechanic Syndrome in Machine Learning
November 4, 2022
Complex, ML-driven risk models are trending at financial institutions, sometimes at the lamentable expense of critical-thinking skills. Consequently, ...
Read ArticleThe Forecast for U.S. Housing Risk: Cracks in the Foundation?
October 7, 2022
The American housing market has fared well this year, but there have been some ominous signs lately – particularly in the nonbanking sector. Should ...
Read ArticleA Call to Arms: Incorporating Extreme Events into Financial Risk Models
September 16, 2022
Recent nonfinancial incidents, including geopolitical conflicts, the pandemic and a supply-chain crisis, have destabilized markets and sent risk ...
Read ArticleMultiple Credit Scores in Mortgage Lending: Understanding the Risks
August 26, 2022
As policymakers consider allowing the use of multiple credit scores in mortgage underwriting, banks need to be alert to risks to lenders and ...
Read ArticleAvoiding the Model Myopia Trap
July 15, 2022
Machine learning has advanced the analytical power of models to new heights. However, to maximize this disruptive technology, risk modelers must ...
Read ArticleCan Your ERM Framework Accommodate Risk Entanglement?
June 17, 2022
It is imperative for risk managers to better understand how individual risks interact with each other. But why should they shift away from risk ...
Read ArticleBuilding a Unified Theory of Risk Management: How and Why
May 13, 2022
To improve enterprise risk management, move further away from risk silos, and gain a better understanding of both obvious and hidden risks, the ...
Read ArticleCredit Access and Risk: A Balancing Act
April 8, 2022
GSEs have in the past relied on a singular credit score to evaluate borrower credit risk, but the FHFA is now considering whether Fannie Mae and ...
Read ArticleIs Standard Scenario Analysis Outdated?
March 11, 2022
Whether we remain overreliant on traditional risk forecasting tools is a key question that has arisen as a result of both the pandemic and the ...
Read ArticleModel Risk Challenges and Opportunities in 2022
February 4, 2022
Rapidly-changing economic, regulatory and environmental conditions this year should heighten risk model teams’ focus on data, technology and climate ...
Read ArticleRisk Management Predictions for 2022: Seeking Alternatives in Times of Uncertainty
January 7, 2022
Interest-rate risk, regulatory changes, supply-chain disruptions, credit risk and human-capital risk are among the threats that will likely be top of ...
Read ArticleHow to Select, Monitor and Manage Useful KRIs
October 22, 2021
The effectiveness of a financial institution's risk management program depends, in no small part, on the key risk indicators it uses to track its ...
Read ArticleCrypto Risk Governance: Hazards and Opportunities
April 16, 2021
Clever asset innovation can happen seemingly overnight. Strong risk governance and regulation are needed to make it resilient.
Read ArticleGeopolitics: Risks and Opportunities
February 19, 2021
Geopolitical events like COVID-19 are now a factor behind many other risks. How are geopolitics influencing risk types such as people risk and ...
Read ArticleHow Artificial Intelligence Will Change Qualitative Risk Management
December 18, 2020
Large U.S. banks now have the opportunity to rethink risk frameworks to both meet regulatory requirements and propel business growth in an era of ...
Read ArticleHow Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Way We Manage Compliance
November 13, 2020
What's the role of the modern chief compliance officer, and how can AI-driven data management and analytics improve oversight of compliance ?
Read ArticlePandemic Challenges: How to Balance Resilience and Profitability
September 18, 2020
The unexpected shocks of COVID-19 - which have impacted everything from car production to food logistics to bank financing - have raised concerns ...
Read ArticlePeople Risk: A Post-Pandemic Management Framework
August 21, 2020
Extraordinary times call for new people risk management approaches. What are today's key employee behavioral and workforce composition risks, and how ...
Read ArticleThe Unconventional Skills Chief Risk Officers are Now Seeking
July 17, 2020
In a world of civil unrest, geopolitical upheaval and coronavirus-driven economic shocks, risk managers with problem-solving capabilities are now in ...
Read ArticlePondering Pandemics: Can We Get Better at Responding to Systemic Risks?
March 20, 2020
Chaotic events such as the coronavirus present CROs some unique challenges that range from risk measurement to operational resilience. In a ...
Read ArticleRepo Crisis Sheds Light on Short-Term Funding Markets
November 8, 2019
Through its recent repo mediation, the Federal Reserve may actually have created a moral hazard in the
Read ArticleWill Shadow Banking Cause the Next Financial Crisis?
July 19, 2019
Complicated by the recent entrance of Facebook, the opaque, poorly-regulated nonbank financing market could eventually threaten global financial ...
Read ArticleHow to Better Understand and Manage Natural Disaster Risks
June 14, 2019
Extreme-weather events are on the rise, and financial institutions must account for them in their loan portfolios. What's the real impact of natural ...
Read ArticleHow to Prevent Another Crisis: Mitigating the Risk of Nonbank Mortgage Lenders and Servicers
May 9, 2019
When the next major downturn occurs, will the industry be stable enough to survive? That could depend on risk management and regulatory improvements ...
Read ArticleMortgage Risk: Why We Should Eliminate the Debt-to-Income Ratio Limit
April 18, 2019
The current DTI rule for qualified mortgages is too restrictive and should be abandoned in favor of more reasonable underwriting standards.
Read ArticleHow to Reduce Risk from Credit Reporting Companies
March 15, 2019
U.S. credit reporting agencies are currently plagued by risk management deficiencies and inadequate regulatory oversight. What steps can be taken to ...
Read ArticleStrategic Risk Will Be Front and Center in 2019
January 18, 2019
Global economic stability is currently being threatened by geopolitical risk, climate change and the cyber revolution. What steps can risk mangers ...
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