What is the PRM^TM Designation?

Overview

The Professional Risk Manager (PRM) Designation is a globally recognized, graduate-level risk management credential. Today's Risk Professionals are expected to know and understand industry best practices and be committed to using them. There is no better way for risk managers to show their commitment than by proving that they have the knowledge, skills, and qualifications to back their experience.

The PRM Program is a series of certification exams, designed to measure the knowledge of professional risk managers and ensure they meet a specific performance standard in their profession. Endorsed by leading university programs and industry firms, it is the global standard for risk management professionals.

Built by a broad coalition of industry leaders to reflect the mission objectives of the association and to establish the leading form of education, validation and certification in the Risk Management profession, the PRM counts candidates from over 100 countries, more than any other risk certification program, anywhere.

Individuals with the PRM designation have demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of:

the classic finance theory underpinning risk management
the foundations of risk measurement
the foundation of option theory
financial instruments and their associated risks and uses
the daily form and function of trading markets
risk management best practices
lessons learned from failed systems and practices and major risk events
best practices of governance, conduct and ethics

Individuals who are in a more focused risk-related role may be interested in PRMIA Certificate Programs, designed for individuals in other risk management related roles.

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What Do Past Candidates Say About the PRM?

Read PRM testimonials to learn what PRM Certified Professionals from around the world have gained from pursuing the PRM designation.

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Who holds the PRM?

The PRM is valuable for individuals wishing to show their competence in risk management tools techniques, theories and principles. It is intended for Financial Analysts, Risk Managers, Chief Risk Officers, and Chief Executive Officers. Current PRM Certified Professionals include staff from large banks and corporations, universities, government agencies, and other non-financial organizations. Organizations represented include Ernst & Young (EY), Credit Suisse, HSBC, ING, First Derivatives, Deloitte, KPMG, UBS, National Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank, and Barclays.

Access PRMIA Certifications Public Directory for a list of PRM Certified Professionals from 2016 onward.

What Does Having PRM After My Name Do For Me?

Along with the feeling of accomplishment for passing the exam comes the ability to set yourself apart in the industry. Less than 20% of risk professionals carry the PRM designation after their name, so PRM Certified Professionals have many more opportunities in the competitive job market than those who do not hold the PRM. Businesses recognize the importance of the skill sets evidenced by the PRM designation, and many more are mandating the credential in their higher level positions.

Employers know that the skills of the PRM Certified Professional are robust and essential to their business, and they respect the added effort that goes into achieving the PRM over other credentials. PRM Certified Professionals stand out in a stack of resumes. This means that you will set yourself apart from your peers so that you can achieve roles leading up to the CRO in your career.

Survey Says...

According to a recent PRMIA member survey, a majority of respondents indicated that having an industry designation is imperative to the hiring of a risk management professional or the management of a professional career. Respondents indicated that the PRM has been most beneficial to them by increasing their knowledge and helping in their career. Others indicated that increased salary, personal satisfaction, and respect are also benefits.

Program Design

The Professional Risk Manager Program has been designed for those:

seeking professional certification
looking to develop their skills or those of their staff
looking for skills assessment of current employees
looking for skills assessment of potential employees
looking to communicate their knowledge and understanding of risk management at a higher level to external and internal parties

The subject matter for the PRM Program has been chosen based on relevance as well as the ready availability of literature on the specific subjects.

Four Objectives

(1) To be a Leader of Industry Opinion and a Proponent for the Risk Management Profession
By setting the higher standard in risk certification, we create standards of practice and accountability that will define what Professional Risk Managers represent to their colleagues and employers.

(2) To Drive the Integration of Practice and Theory
Neither theory nor practice will successfully develop to their potential without a strong interaction between professionals in each area. The Professional Risk Manager Program contains subject matter drawn from risk management theory, finance theory, the math underpinning risk measurement and applied question matter from the practices of our profession. We will directly test for knowledge of Finance and basic Math. Such knowledge is essential for risk managers as it forms the foundation of risk measurement and management.

We will also test for practical knowledge about markets: trading practices, intermediaries, settlement and other conventions in specific markets. These market choices will reflect the most global of markets as well as some more narrowly defined markets, with the latter giving us the opportunity to expose people to markets in which they may not normally be active.

Finally, to test for broad understanding of important risk management lessons, we have included a section based on the time-tested case-study approach to learning. Narratives of historical incidents where critical risk management issues have arisen give us the opportunity to conduct a sort of pathology of events from around the globe and to test members’ understanding of their root causes.

(3) To be Global in our Focus, Promoting Cross-Cultural Ethical Standards, Serving Emerging as well as More Developed Markets
The content of the PRM Program is designed to be geographically neutral. Specific sections focusing on “markets” are designed so that a variety of markets and market lessons will be studied.

The PRMIA Standards of Best Practice, Conduct and Ethics (Code of Conduct) represents the standards of behavior that Professional Risk Managers promise to their colleagues and employers. It has been written to cut across geographic and cultural boundaries. All Professional Risk Managers will be required to study the Code for the program and adhere to it to stay in good standing as a certified PRM Certified Professional.

The PRMIA Governance Principles delineate seven key principles to best practice corporate governance, all gleaned from governance documents developed by leading public and private entities from around the world.

(4) Transparent, NonProfit, Independent, Member-Focused and Member-Driven
PRMIA is a non-profit professional association under the full control of its members. It does not have for-profit subsidiaries that may financially benefit individuals. Its bylaws provide strong protection for member rights and the assets of the membership. We are “of the risk professional, by the risk professional and for the risk professional.”

The program has been designed by industry leaders, all PRMIA members. Any PRMIA member can submit questions for possible inclusion on the exams. Those submissions go through a quality control screening by a number of members of the Education Committee and, if approved, will make it to our exam question database. By emphasizing peer input and peer review, this approach sets a standard of measurement created by the industry.

Candidates will study the Bylaws of PRMIA, so that they are familiar with our structure and codification of member-leadership.