Description: This article discusses the system in systemic risk and suggests management approaches for dealing with systemic events.

Description: Feature article that discusses how insurance and banking business models have continued to grow in complexity over the past 50 years—from simple and local risk exposures to the current environment of complex and global exposures

Description: The editor of the Risk Management newsletter summarizes the articles in this issue which cover Enterprise Risk Management, Systemic Risk and Variable Annuities.

Description: The central question is that of viability. Specifically, is the configuration of life insurers’ products and balance sheets economically viable under current accounting and ongoing market conditions?

Description: Models are imperfect approximations of reality. Once a bubble has been recognized, that’s the time for mechanisms of caution and prudence to kick in, even in the face of exuberance – especially in the face of exuberance. Liquidity and trust is plentiful until it’s not – it can evaporate with blazing speed and only returns slowly. Risk is contagious, which means every single employee and citizen has a vested interest in taking on the role of chief risk officer.

Description: In this article, the authors discuss measuring and understanding the more holistic value of risk management. In particular, organizations are struggling with how to best determine the market value of risk management strategies.

Description: Political figures and journalists have tended to blame deregulation and greed for the credit crisis. However, we would like to suggest that these were not the primary cause of the credit crisis. The real cause of the crisis was faulty regulation and arrogance. Flawed regulation in the over-reliance on complicated capital models and arrogance in believing that the complex mathematical formula in risk models overcame the limitations on input availability and enabled companies to capture returns that were greater than the cost of capital, have led Wall Street by creating CDOs and similar instruments to repackage risks and take out the systematic excess risk charges as profits, and have also allowed companies to run “prudently” on leverage ratios that were in hindsight over the limit.

Description: This is a book review of 'Mastering Operational Risk'. The book offers a high level review of the risk management process based on the banking industry. The target audience is someone interested in understanding their company's operational risk framework.

Description: The world of the local S&Ls, the partner-owned investment bank and Bretton Woods isn’t coming back. So what does that leave us to do next? Part of me is persuaded by the second law of thermodynamics, which says that existence gets progressively more and more disordered with the passage of time, since any work done to address the current crisis expends more energy and causes more disorder than it fixes.

Description: Chairperson's summary of Joint Risk Management Section (JRMS) Council accomplishments during the 2021-2022 Section Council year, as part of the December 2022 Risk Management newsletter. Includes an introduction to new council members, appreciation to those departing the Council, and introduces the new JRMS Council Leadership. Discusses the accomplishments made, areas of focus and activities underway which benefit JRMS Section members.