The topic of risk appetite has exploded in recent years, especially since the global financial crisis. Risk appetite frameworks (“RAF”) and risk appetite statements (“RAS”) continue to evolve, and companies are at different stages of implementation. In December 2013, the CRO Council (“Council”) and the CRO Forum (“Forum”) published the paper “Establishing and Embedding Risk Appetite: Practitioners’ View”, to present a variety of sound practices that organizations use to establish and embed effective risk appetite frameworks. Because risk appetite frameworks are not one-size-fits-all, different approaches were discussed, indicating that the size, complexity, and nature of business operations weigh into determining the best approach for an individual company.
To gain further insight into the diversity of their members’ approaches to risk appetite, the Forum and the Council conducted a joint survey in 2014. The survey was intended to be broad, covering most key areas regarding RAFs. This publication covers the results of this joint survey.