Risk Appetite & Tolerance Guidance Paper

This guidance paper has been prepared under the overall direction of a working group of the Institute of Risk Management. The group has held a series of meetings supplemented by much virtual debate to explore ideas and agree the direction of the paper. We have had healthy discussions, and given the nature of the topic, there have been areas that have proved contentious. We have presented the outline of the thinking in various meetings and we circulated an early draft of this paper to in excess of fifty individuals. We have also exposed it for a much wider consultation from which we received many responses (see list of people and organisations responding in Appendix B).
From this development process, we are confident that we are dealing with a topic that is relevant to many people in many organisations of different types in all sectors and that there is sufficient consensus on issues and approaches emerging to be able to publish this guidance. We know that future editions of this guidance may well be subject to major revisions. That will be a sign of good and healthy progress. It is in that context that we present this paper to assist in boards’ deliberations on the subject of risk appetite and tolerance. The paper consists of an executive summary, which is designed to provide an overview on the subject for general use, particularly by board members, and a more detailed document which is primarily designed to assist those whose task it is to advise boards on these matters.