After I hailed the benefits of enterprise risk management in my Feb. 9 column and blog, suggesting that a chief risk officer might have helped AIG avoid some of the systemic exposures that nearly destroyed the company (and our economy along with it), readers rightfully blasted me for failing to do my homework.

As it turns out, AIG did have in place a vast ERM oversight structure, led by a CRO. Yet its Financial Products unit still drove the firm off a cliff, with taxpayers forced to hop on for the ride in mid-air!

Some readers insist this proves that counting on ERM to contain organization-wide exposures is hopelessly utopian. But I will stick to my guns and argue that better implementation might indeed have prevented a financial catastrophe at AIG.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.