ERM is a
n acknowledged practice and has become an established discipline and separately identified function assuming a much greater role in many insurers’ everyday business practices. Originally, risk management only facilitated the identification of risks and was not fully developed to provide satisfactory methods for measuring and managing risks, or for determining related capital requirements to cover those risks. ERM processes being developed today by insurers increasingly use internal models and sophisticated risk metrics to translate risk identification into management actions and capital needs. Internal models are recognised as powerful tools that may be used, where it is appropriate to the nature, scale and complexity to do so, to enhance company risk management and to better embed risk culture in the company. They can be used to provide a common measurement basis across all risks (e.g. same methodology, time horizon, risk measure, level of confidence, etc.) and enhance strategic decision-making, for example capital allocation and pricing. Such an approach typically adopts a total balance sheet approach whereby the impact of the totality of material risks is fully recognised on an economic basis. A total balance sheet approach reflects the interdependence between assets, liabilities, capital requirements and capital resources, and identifies a capital allocation, where needed, to protect the insurer and its policyholders and to optimise returns to the insurer on its capital.