Risk Management at Board Level: A Practical Guide for Board Members

The first edition of this book in 2007 tried to establish the importance and permanence of Risk Management in the Swiss and international Boards. Since then black swan risks such as the financial crisis 2008, uncontrollable risks such as the nuclear disaster of Fukushima, increasing global risks such as cyber leakages, international conflicts and terrorist attacks have made the risk landscape even more challenging. The increased focus on fraud and corruption risks has made the regulators take a sterner look at the way risks are being managed within organizations, especially in large firms. The problem of "too big to fail" brought as a consequence a wave of regulations which has increased the compliance aspect of Risk Management. Additionally, companies in their own interest, cannot anymore be mute spectators and be reactive to these developments, but rather take a pro-active approach to manage their holistic risk landscape; internal, external and regulatory. This is true for large, medium and small sized firms as Risk Management story has moved from "Enterprise-wide Risk Management" to "Compliance and Sustainability Risk Management". This new edition, in addition to having contemporary risk information and trends, has been fortified by integrating the new breed of risks and possible solutions by inviting three new subject matter experts to discuss and advise on the issues of uncontrollable risks (Lee Howell); fraud and corruption related risks (Peter Jonker) and project risks (Stephan Döhler). It is our sincere hope that this book benefits readers especially Directors of the Board as well as Executive Managers in embracing the new risk landscape and empower them with the help of a practical tool-kit to create a systematic and effective Risk Management.