Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) case studies
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is the risk-focused credential track offered within the Society of Actuaries (SOA) education system, and it is also the pathway that leads to the Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) designation listed among SOA credentials. It suits candidates who want to move beyond pricing and valuation into identifying, quantifying, and communicating the risks an entire organization faces - insurance, investment, operational, and strategic. The Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) case studies are 5 cases and about 3,411 words.
1Board Reporting After a Near-Miss
A mid-sized specialty insurer has an ERM function of three analysts reporting to a Chief Risk Officer who also chairs the enterprise risk committee. Last quarter a reinsurance recoverable dispute of $42 million surfaced only when finance closed the books; the risk register listed 'reinsurance counterparty risk' as Low with an owner in the finance department who had left eight months earlier.
705 words, about 4 min2Aggregation Across Silos
A global manufacturer runs ERM by business unit. Each unit reports its top ten risks on a five-by-five heat map.
699 words, about 3 min3Risk Appetite That Bites
A retail bank has a risk appetite statement that says it is 'conservative' and seeks to 'avoid material losses.' Business lines complain it gives no guidance: a treasury desk wants to know how much interest-rate risk it may take, and a lending team wants a concentration limit for a single sector. The CRO argues the statement is unusable because it has no metrics, thresholds, or escalation triggers.
689 words, about 3 min4Model Risk in a Vendor Scorecard
A payments company uses a third-party vendor's credit-scoring model to approve small-business loans. The vendor will not disclose the model's logic, citing proprietary IP, but provides a validation report and an AUC of 0.81 on its own sample.
650 words, about 3 min5Scenario Analysis Under Deep Uncertainty
A utility is stress-testing its ERM framework against a plausible but severe scenario: a prolonged drought reduces hydroelectric output while simultaneously raising cooling-water constraints on a thermal plant, and a carbon price rises faster than planned. The risk team built a model with point estimates for each variable and produced a single 'expected loss' figure of $310 million.
668 words, about 3 min