Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MANAGER CERTIFICATE
CANDIDATE GUIDEBOOK
The Industry Standard for Operational Risk Practitioners
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PRMIAs Operational Risk Manager Certificate is designed
to deliver a deep, practical understanding of operational
risk management frameworks and measurement
methodologies in financial institutions. Successful
candidates will be better prepared to implement
meaningful risk assessment initiatives, produce useful risk
management information and understand basic modeling
techniques for operational risk measurement.
The Operational Risk exam consists of 60 questions. The
syllabus is based on the PRMIA Operational Risk Manager
Certificate Handbook, together with PRMIA Case Studies
which are freely available on the PRMIA website.
Registration for the exam is via the PRMIA website and
taking the exam is designed to suit the needs of the busy risk professional. Be sure to read this
entire document to view important information that will help you to be a successful candidate.
We hope that you will join us in promoting the PRM program as the standard for our industry
and that you will join in our efforts to ensure that it will continue to meet the needs of our
members and our industry.
CONTENTS
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PROGRAM DESIGN
PROGRAM DATES
AND LOCATIONS
OPERATIONAL RISK
MANAGER SYLLABUS
PROGRAM DESIGN
KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES
DESIGN RATIONALE
The Operational Risk Manager Certificate program
was created at the instigation of PRMIA members
holding senior positions in the industry who felt
there was a gap in the market. It has been designed
by industry leaders, all PRMIA members.
The Operational Risk Manager Certificate is relevant
to all risk-related roles in financial services, in particular Operational Risk Staff, Financial Controllers,
Operations and Technology Managers, and
Compliance and Legal Officers. A grounding in operational risk management techniques is also becoming increasingly important for front line staff, both
from a process and conduct perspective in their
dealings with clients and market counterparts.
Gain an appreciation for the role of risk management in the post crisis financial services industry
Gain an appreciation for the role of corporate governance in an organization and of the participants,
elements and relationships within risk management
governance
List and discuss a set of developments in the governance of risk management, with an introduction to
the area of risk culture
Describe the elements of a risk management framework and choose the elements to implement in their
own workplace
Be able to recognize how operational risk management can assist the overall business and add value
READING MATERIAL
You may request to schedule your exams at any time. There is no advantage to taking your exams
on any particular date. Questions within exams are drawn from a large database of questions and
are administered randomly, creating thousands of unique exam forms, all of comparable difficulty.
PRMIA uses the services of VUE, part of the Pearson Publishing family, to administer the ORM
exams. Pearson VUE is a professional testing firm that has nearly 5,000 testing centers in more
than 165 countries around the world.
Please note some important details about registration, cancellation, identification requirements
and space availability in the Registration section found on page 3 and 4.
*Registration and testing for the ORM exam will begin in early 2015.
REGISTRATION
Registration for the Operational Risk Manager
exam will begin in early 2015. Registration
will be via the link found at
http://www.prmia.org/orm-certificate/preparation.
When you register, a voucher number will be
provided to you that you can use to schedule your
exam at the center, date and time of your choice.
90 DAY RULE
Please note that there is a strict PRMIA policy that exams may NOT
be retaken within 90 days of a prior sitting. Any candidate attempt
to transgress this policy by whatever means may result in penalties
against the candidate which could include forfeit of any PRMIA certifications, vouchers, and possible expulsion from PRMIA.
PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION
On the date of your appointment,
arrive at the testing center at least
15 minutes before the scheduled
start time. You must bring two
forms of identification with you.
The first must be a current government-issued ID with your
photograph and signature.
ARRIVE ON TIME
It is very important that you leave enough time
to arrive at the testing center early.
Candidates that arrive late to the test center
may not be permitted to test. The full charge
for the exam will be made if you are not
admitted for any reason. As these centers
offer exams for other organizations as well,
not everyone in the room will be taking the
same exam, so no assumptions should be
made about when other candidates enter
or leave the testing center.
CANCELLATIONS/CHANGES
In recognition of the busy and changing
schedules of risk managers, you may change
your exam appointment without charge
through the Pearson Vue system at
www.pearsonvue.com/prmia. Please note that
all change requests must be made at least
one business day before the testing date or
the entire exam fee will be forfeited.
Because of the flexibility in rescheduling,
exam fees are non-refundable.
EXAMINATION ADMINISTRATION
Each testing center has an administrator who can assist candidates
with any questions that they may have. In the event of any incident
(computer failure, inadequate supplies, excessive noise, or any other
circumstance) which the candidate believes is not compatible with
good examination conditions, this must be brought to the attention of
the examination proctor immediately upon the incident being noticed
without continuing the exam. Failure to inform the proctor in this
manner will invalidate any subsequent candidate incident reporting
which cannot be substantiated by the test center.
Your exam results should be available within 15 business days of your
test date and will be delivered to you via the PRMIA website which
you can access by signing in to your PRMIA member page, go to
Membership then PRM Society and finally My PRM Profile.
EXAM SECURITY
The Operational Risk Manager
exam is conducted under
secure conditions. Any attempt
by candidates to copy questions, by any means including
unorganized memorizing, and
to distribute these questions to
other individuals, will be treated as unethical behavior and
may result in penalties against
the candidate which could
include forfeit of any PRMIA
certifications, vouchers, and
possible expulsion from
PRMIA. Indictment to copy,
and usage of copied questions
may also result in the same
penalties.
CALCULATORS
An online scientific calculator, Texas
Instrument TI308XS, is part of the test
delivery system. No other materials may be
brought into the exam room with you. It is
suggested that candidates purchase the
hand-held version (TI-30XS) to fully familiarize themselves with the calculator.
4
B. Risk Governance
1. Risk Capacity
a. Risk Capacity
b. Resources and Risk Capacity
c. Stress Testing and Simulation
1. Governance
2. Risk Appetite
a. Risk Appetite
c. An Example Risk
Appetite Statement
a. The Board
b. CRO
c. Wider Reporting
3. Risk Policies
a. Introduction to Policies
3. Process
a. Theory
d. Policy Coverage
c. Results
4. Risk Pricing
4. Risk Governance Developments
SYLLABUS SUMMARY
Section
A Introduction
Percentage
of the Exam
3%
5. Risk Culture
a. Risk Culture
b. Leadership and Risk Culture
c. The Role of the Risk Management
Function in Risk Culture
B Risk Governance
10%
12
20%
D Risk Assessment
12
20%
E Risk Information
12
20%
F Risk Modeling
14%
G Insurance Mitigation
3%
H Case Studies
10%
60
100%
Total
5
Number of Questions
in the Exam
2
D. Risk Assessment
F. Risk Modeling
1. Risk Assessment
E. Risk Information
1. Introduction
a. Risk Appetite and Risk Profile
b. Expected Loss
c. Unexpected Loss
2. Loss Investigations
G. Insurance Mitigation
a. Insurance Mitigation
Introduction
c. Quantifying Losses
d. Boundary Issues
c. Qualification Criteria of
Insurance Mitigation
c. Residual Risk
a. Introduction to KRIs
d. Management Validation
e. Implementing a KRI
Framework
4. Risk Reporting & Toolsets
a. Data Model
b. Workflows
c. Reporting