Rose Patten is an Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management and Special Advisor to the CEO, BMO Financial Group. Here, she provides her thoughts on the state of risk management. 

Risk Management is now as central to the board agenda as finance and audit.  Accountability to shareholders, and explicit understanding of risk/reward trade-offs is rigorously demanded.

Risk/reward tradeoffs must be understood and approved by the board of directors. Directors are focused on deepening their own understanding of risk/reward, as they establish an organization’s risk appetite and oversee strategy implementation.

This rise in education on risk management is greater than anything I have ever seen it in my 30 years in banking. Organizations are investing in risk management education for today’s leaders, through offerings by consultants and other institutions. The expectation is clearly growing for our business schools to ensure that risk management is a critical part of the curriculum. The next generation of business graduates must be “risk savvy” and clearly see its importance to the success of the business and their own performance. The sizing of risk/reward is no longer the sole accountability of the risk department.  It is a key success factors for business graduates.

I am encouraged that Rotman has prioritized this and are now offering a program which will build a strong risk management foundation in the graduates being hired.

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