My favourite financial fraud of all time has to the work of John M. Rusnak at Allfirst Bank, a sub of Allied Irish Bank, perpetrated in 2001. Following the events which cost this Irish bank tens of millions of losses, an audit report was prepared by Promontory Financial Group and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. [...]
Archive for August, 2009
My favourite fraud ever
Posted in My Opinions, Thought Leadership, tagged Allfirst, Allied Irish, fraud, Rusnak on August 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The content and process of ERM
Posted in ERM Basics, My Opinions, Office and culture, tagged change management, content and process, ERM, risk culture on August 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I doubt you will find anyone else who breaks ERM into these two components: content and process. Content includes all the stuff that consultants deliver such as lists of categorized risks, control plans, outstanding actions and colourful heat maps. This content is what I was once told by an EVP is the stuff “I put [...]
James Lam’s ERM Best Practices
Posted in Books, ERM Basics, Thought Leadership, tagged best practices, ERM, James Lam on August 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The following list was published by James Lam in 2005 and sums up the top ten best practices and hallmarks of ERM 1. Engaged senior management and board of directors that set “the tone from the top” and provide organizational support and resources. 2. Independent ERM function under the leadership of chief risk officer (CRO), [...]
Assessing your risk culture
Posted in ERM Basics, Office and culture, Thought Leadership, tagged ERM, risk culture, Towers Perrin on August 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In an earlier post, I described my experience with changing culture in order to embed risk management as a systemic capability. Towers Perrin recently published a brief paper titled Assessing Your Company’s Risk Culture, describes the two key pillars emerging as supporting components of ERM: risk culture and governance, and risk-based decision-making.
ERM doesn’t need to be expensive
Posted in ERM Basics, Thought Leadership, tagged ERM, Grant Thornton, Industrial Engineer on August 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the May 2009 issue of Industrial Engineer, Paul Engle, senior manager with Grant Thornton, writes: ERM programs can be effective for most companies because they force management to look beyond the day-to-day decisions necessary to operate the business and instead consider how the company might avoid or react to significant changes that may impact [...]
Culture and risk management
Posted in ERM Basics, Office and culture, tagged control, risk culture on August 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A good 8-page paper on the culture or risk management in financial institutions from Booz & Co. It reminds me of my days on the institutional trading desk which I write about below. Booz writes: While the risk management function has grown in size over time, it is typically short on top talent. How many [...]
R-S-T-L-N-E
Posted in ERM Basics, Humour, My Opinions, tagged project risks, Wheel of Fortune, workshops on August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It’s always been my experience that when you put a bunch of people in a room and ask them to identify the risks their organization faces, they come up with the easy ones – the generic ones – and not the real risks lurking throughout. While doing a workshop for a project implementation, all I [...]
KISS ERM
Posted in ERM Basics, My Opinions, tagged culture, ERM, Framework, KISS on August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
While I am excited about the recent tour announcement by the band KISS, this k.i.s.s. stands for “keep it simple stupid”. When implementing an ERM program keeping it simple is the goal, while avoiding unnecessary complexity. So while the band KISS may have sung “God Gave Rock ‘n Roll to You”, remember that Riskczar gives [...]
H. Felix Kloman – Mosquitoes and Handguns
Posted in ERM Basics, League of Extraordinary Risk Gentlemen, Thought Leadership, tagged dishwasher, ERM, Felix Kloman, guns, mosquitoes on August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Felix Kloman is to risk management what Peter Drucker is to management. A legend. I only hope to do this risk thing as long as Mr. Kloman and one day earn a fraction of his rock star status. Mr. Kloman retired a few years ago and unfortunately his Risk Management Reports ended as well. Then [...]
A Risky Choice for A Risk Czar (not me)
Posted in Risk management, tagged Fed, Geithner, risk czar, systemic risk on August 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
By Mark R. Warner Sunday, June 28, 2009 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062603560_pf.html Over the past six months, President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have worked tirelessly to rescue the U.S. economy from our nation’s longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression. As the administration has shifted from crisis management to regulatory modernization, it has sought to [...]
