Spotlight: The ERM Special Interest Group

The ERM SIG held three meetings during 2019 and was launched in March, attracting more than 40 members during the course of the year. In a private setting, members have discussed and debated topics such as the three lines of defence and the relationship between internal audit and risk management.

Susan Young, Chief Risk Officer at Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd, attended all three meetings of the ERM SIG in 2019 and told Airmic News she has found the discussion of important issues with risk professionals from a wide variety of sectors most beneficial.

"Within my own organisation there is no one else that does my job, so being able to discuss these topics with like-minded risk professionals who carry out a similar role to me is very useful," Ms Young says.

"Working for a financial institution we often do things a bit differently to other organisations, so it has been particularly enlightening to hear the varying relationships colleagues have between risk and audit."

Martin Sutton, Director of Internal Audit & Risk Management at Spire Healthcare Group, is another regular attendee of the ERM SIG and says he appreciates the Chatham House Rules approach, which ensures members feel comfortable speaking freely.

"I have been really struck by the broad range of industry sectors represented in the group," Sutton tells Airmic News. "As someone who has recently moved sectors, into healthcare, this has been useful and it will continue to be valuable to me throughout 2020."

The meetings have also been supported by KPMG who have provided meeting rooms and will sometimes write a short report from each meeting.

The next meeting of the ERM SIG will be on 1 April and will address the role of the Risk Committee with a focus on the work published by the Risk Coalition in December 2019. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Julia Graham, Deputy CEO and Technical Director at Airmic by email.