Risk management

Being a risk manager implies being a good identifier and analyser. Why? Because as risk manager you identify and analyse the probable risk a company faces in their investment decision-making. You advise companies, which can be your own employer of a wide variety of clients depending on the way you are employed, on any potential risk they may be facing and in what way these will influence their prospective profit or even the existence of the company.

An example of your job activities are evaluating risk, risk assessment, implementing an overall risk management process which is based on the level of risk the company prefers to face, or reporting the risk to different in- and outsiders. Risk management can vary from analysing the effect of market shocks on your client’s portfolios to analysing large scale infrastructure projects. Risk is woven through our society and every process can be analysed and managed from a financial risk perspective. Because of this, risk managers are being deployed in a wide variety of sectors. For instance the government, multinationals, smaller businesses and regulators all need risk managers. This means that the field of risk management is quite broad. You could be working in the area of enterprise risk, corporate governance, regulatory and operational risk, business continuity, information and security risk, technology risk, market and credit risk and many more.

One exciting or for some frightening aspect of risk management is the responsibility and influence a risk manager has. Not managing your risk in a right manner can have grave consequences for companies as well as individuals who at first sight have nothing to do with your proceedings. The financial crisis in 2008 was partly the result of wrong risk management. Companies will rely on your skill to be able to correctly quantify risk and apply them to their business.