Raj Singh, group CRO, Standard Life
Singh joined Standard Life after working as CRO at some of the biggest insurers in Europe, including Swiss Re and Allianz. He was also founding chairman of the CRO Forum and the International Financial Risk Institute and continues to deliver the message of risk management in major forums around the world.
Who do you most admire in the field of risk management?
There are many people. For example, I have strong admiration for James Lam, who is credited with being the first CRO of GE Capital Markets and one of the early proponents of enterprise-wide risk management, laying the foundation for the broader introduction of CRO positions across the globe. I also have great respect for Bruno Porro, the first executive board level CRO of Swiss Re who set the trend for risk modelling and capital allocation concepts and embedding the same into the business pricing and resource allocation processes in the re/insurance industry.
What have you learnt about communicating risk?
The role of the CRO is that of a "translator of risks" to the key stakeholders in order to support them in managing and monitoring risks in a timely and forward looking way, that supports pre-emptive risk management. Simplifying complex quantitative and qualitative risks into common language is therefore vital. It's an area that continues to improve and a great deal can be accomplished through effective and simplified risk reporting and discussion.
What are the major challenges ahead?
The major challenges ahead for CROs are probably softer areas such as building stronger influence around regulatory, conduct and compliance risks, and embedding a risk culture throughout a company. Some newer areas of risk also pose a challenge, including cyber and fraud risks, given broader digital access. This is in addition to business model risks from broader economic and societal developments and the potential risks of disruptive innovation to current models.
What will be the next big development in risk management?
The areas of big data, cloud computing and strong data governance continue to evolve. These tools allow risk to be captured in a more granular and timely way. They also make it easier to aggregate and consolidate them, and to enable a deeper interrogation where necessary and allow for the rapid calculation of varied risk scenarios. At the same time, there is likely to be a stronger crossover between the business management and risk management skills, with future CROs sitting at the executive table as part of the broader executive team.
What are your other interests?
I'm passionate about risk management and education, and outside of work I spend some of my spare time on advisory panels and pursuing charitable interests in these areas. I also love to travel and with my home in Zurich it makes it easy to reach the many neighbouring countries in just a few hours.