A chief risk officer (CRO) is the C-level executive responsible for identifying, analysing, and mitigating internal and external risks. The chief risk officer works to ensure that the company complies with government regulations and reviews factors that could hurt investments or the organisation’s operations.
The position of chief risk officer is constantly evolving. As companies adopt new technologies, the CRO must govern information security, protect against cyber crime and fraud, and guard intellectual property. By developing internal controls and overseeing internal audits, threats from within a company can be identified before they result in regulatory action.
The types of threats the CRO usually keeps watch for can be grouped into regulatory, cyber, competitive, and technical categories. CROs must also check for procedural issues within their companies that may create exposure to a threat or liability.