Risk salaries rising

Basic salaries for risk experts are rising despite the financial gloom, according to a new poll of risk managers.

Risk managers’ salaries have risen up to 5% in the last 6 months, according to a poll of 2,112 professionals carried out by GRS.

This is in part driven by the reduction in bonus multiples but also enhanced by the relative level of scarcity of talent, said the firm. The skill set has also benefited from a bigger profile in the last 18 months, it added.

The poll also highlighted the need for more risk managers at senior levels in companies.

Despite the fact that over 58% of risk experts polled recognised the need to have a pure risk professional on the board, only 12% currently have a chief risk officer, said GRS.

This statistic remains unchanged since the question was last asked in July 2008.

‘We expect to see both up-grading and enlargement of risk functions in the near future,’ said GRS.

Ken Brotherston, chief executive of the GRS Group, said: ‘Over the coming year, as departments restructure, I expect demand for risk professionals to increase even further, and their remuneration to continue to reflect this.’