Financial Risk Manager exam is a globally acknowledged designation awarded by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) which equips professionals with financial risk assessment and risk management skills. The primary focus of FRM is on helping professionals become acquainted with the principles of managing market risk, credit risk and liquidity risk along with non-market financial risks. FRMs constitute an exclusive global community of nearly 30,000-strong GARP professionals, a majority of them working with some of the top employers in the financial industry. FRM-qualified professionals usually have much better compensation as compared with their non-credentialed counterparts, bringing added value to the designation.
A wealth of information is readily available about the prerequisites, exam details and exam preparation strategies for FRM. However, there is comparatively scarce information available on salary packages, bonuses and overall trends related to financial compensation for FRM-qualified professionals. In the course of this article, we would be solely focusing on the aspect of financial compensation for the benefit of the readers.
- Significance of FRM Certification
- Average FRM Salaries in the US
- Average FRM Salaries in the UK
- Average FRM Salaries in Singapore
- Average FRM Salaries in India
- Popular Career Roles for FRM Professionals
- What Kind of Employers Look for FRM Professionals
- Top FRM Employing Industries
- Top FRM Employers Across Industries
- How Can FRM Salary -Related Information be Useful for Professionals?
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Significance of FRM Certification
Though we have already provided information in brief on FRM, it would be important to dwell on the significance of this designation to be able to understand how it helps shape a financial career, which ultimately decides what kind of compensation one receives. It goes without saying that FRM is a highly specialized risk management designation that helps acquire necessary skills and knowledge of risk management in specific areas and it is this specialized nature of the designation which makes it such a potentially rewarding designation in terms of financial growth.
Average FRM Certification Salaries in the US
Average salaries for Financial Risk Manager stand anywhere between $50,000 and $125,000 in the US.
source: Payscale
FRM Salary Ranges by Career Role in the US:
- Risk Analyst: Average annual salary stands at $82,424
- Credit Risk Manager: Average annual salary – $123,000
- Vice President, Finance: Average annual salary – $90,000
- Senior Internal Auditor: Average annual salary – $88,437
- Financial Analyst: Average annual salary – $50,868
Average FRM Salaries in the UK
Average salaries for Financial Risk Manager in the UK stand anywhere between $35,265 and $57,200 in the UK.
source: Payscale
FRM Certification Salary Ranges by Career Role in the UK:
- Risk Manager: Average annual salary stands at $57,200
- Investment Analyst: Average annual salary – $38,660
- Credit Risk Analyst: Average annual salary – $35,265
Average FRM Salaries in Singapore
Average salaries for Financial Risk Manager stands anywhere between S$63,200 and S$111,841 in Singapore.
source: Payscale
FRM Salary Ranges by Career Role in Singapore:
- Risk Manager: Average annual salary stands at S$111,841
- Risk Analyst: Average annual salary – S$63,200
Average FRM Salaries in India
Average salaries for Financial Risk Manager stands anywhere between INR 776,000 and INR 1,236,504 in India.
source: Payscale
FRM Certification Salary Ranges by Career Role in India:
- AVP, Market Risk: Average annual salary stands in the range of INR1,236,504 – INR2,908,740
- Risk Analyst: Average annual salary – INR800,000
- Senior Business Analyst: Average annual salary stands at INR890,000
- Risk Manager: Average annual salary stands at INR1,047,619
- Financial Analyst: Average annual salary stands at INR776,000
Geographically speaking, FRM Certified professionals might be able to explore some of the best professional growth opportunities in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China along with other locations. It may not be so easy to pinpoint the kind of money a financial risk manager stands to earn as it depends on a number of relevant factors including the industry experience a financial risk manager has. Academics can also have a role to play in deciding how much a professional stands to earn.
A comparison of the FRM certification salary from Indeed.com provides us with different figures. The salaries could be different because the average salary is for the job that matches the keyword “FRM”. This means that these are salaries offered for new job posts, not salaries that risk managers are earning in their current jobs.
source: indeed.com
Other factors that might influence remuneration could include geographical location and the size of an employer among other things.
Popular Career Roles for FRM Professionals
Some of the popular professional’s roles fit for FRM certified professionals include several specialized Financial Manager and Financial Analyst or related positions. Some of these are
- Financial Manager
- Risk Qualification Manager
- Corporate Risk Director
- Risk Management Analytics Consultant
- Regulatory Risk Analyst
- Analytics Client Consultant
- Operational Risk Analyst
- Credit Risk Specialist
- Enterprise Risk Manager
- Large Enterprise Commercial Risk Manager.
Each of these career roles offers varying work opportunities and remuneration, as well as growth prospects, might differ significantly. Again, a lot depends on the employer and what kind of growth prospects are available to an individual. Next, we will try to understand what kind of employers root for FRM-certified professionals and why.
What Kind of Employers Look for FRM Professionals
FRM is more of a specialized certification, as we have already discussed, which is aimed at helping professionals acquire an in-depth understanding of various forms of financial risks including potential credit risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, and market risk along with non-market financial risks. It must be remembered that financial institutions and banks have to deal with these forms of risk on a regular basis which is why they are always looking to hire professionals with requisite knowledge and skillset, making FRM a preferred choice of risk management credential. On a broader level, risk management has acquired a whole new meaning in the post- 2008 era where banks and financial institutions realized how things can potentially go wrong despite the best of capabilities in financial management and underlying risks need to be managed with a higher level of finesse.
No wonder, banks, and financial institutions were almost forced to reassess their priorities and give risk management its rightful place under the sun. As a result, the demand for risk management professionals is on the rise and a majority of high-profile employers prefer to hire accredited professionals, who enjoy a higher level of credibility in their eyes. FRM being one such specialized credential, its value has naturally gone up with time and some of the top employers for FRM include asset management firms, investment banks, government agencies, corporations, global financial services firms, and auditing firms among others.
Top FRM Employing Industries
Here is a list of the top industries which employ FRM certified professionals:
- Investment Banks
- Commercial Banks
- Central Banks of Countries
- Asset Management Companies
- Insurance Companies
- Credit Rating Companies
- Government and Regulatory Agencies
- Consulting Firms
- Hedge Funds
- Professional Service Firms
Top FRM Employers Across Industries
Here are some of the top employers from different industries that regularly employ FRM-certified professionals for their risk management capabilities.
| S. No. | Top Companies | Top Global Banks | Top Global Hedge Funds | Top Global Asset Management Firms | Top Global Insurance Companies |
| 1. | ICBC | ICBC | Bridgewater Associates | BlackRock | AXA Equitable |
| 2. | HSBC | China Construction Bank Corporation | Man Group | SSgA | Allianz |
| 3. | Bank of China | JPMorgan Chase & Co | Brevan Howard Asset Management | Fidelity Investments | Metlife Inc. |
| 4. | PwC | Bank of China | Och-Ziff Capital Management Group | Vanguard Group | Prudential |
| 5. | UBS | HSBC Holdings | BlueCrest Capital Management | J.P. Morgan Asset Management | AIG |
| 6. | Citi | Wells Fargo & Co | J.P. Morgan | PIMCO | Generali Group |
| 7. | KPMG | Agricultural Bank of China | Credit Suisse | BNY Mellon Asset | Legal & General Group |
| 8. | Agricultural Bank of China | BNP Paribas | BlackRock | Capital Research & Management Co | Aviva |
| 9. | Ernst & Young | Banco Santander | Amundi | Manulife | |
| 10. | Deutsche Bank | Goldman Sachs | Goldman Sachs | AEGON | |
| 11. | Standard Chartered Bank | Citigroup | Prudential Financial | CNP Assurances | |
| 12. | Credit Suisse | Itaú Unibanco Holding | Deutsche Asset Management | Berkshire Hathaway | |
| 13. | Deloitte | Banco do Brasil | AXA Investment Managers | Zurich Insurance | |
| 14. | JP Morgan | Barclays | BNP Paribas | Ping An | |
| 15. | Barclays | Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group | Legg Mason Inc. | ||
| 16. | Samsung | Banco Bradesco | Franklin Templeton Investments | ||
| 17. | ING | Crédit Agricole | Northern Trust | ||
| 18. | Bank of Communications | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | Wellington Management | ||
| 19. | Bank of America | Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria | Invesco | ||
| 20. | BBVA | UBS | MetLife Inc. | ||
| 21. | Westpac Banking Corporation | ||||
| 22. | Groupe BPCE | ||||
| 23. | Sberbank of Russia | ||||
| 24. | Bank of Communications | ||||
| 25. | Société Générale |
FRM certified are also recruited by top Global Professional Service Firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG
How Can FRM Salary -Related Information be Useful for Professionals?
It goes without saying that FRM offers some of the finest career prospects and growth opportunities are immense depending on the skillset, knowledge, academics and professional experience of a professional.
Now, the most important question that remains to be addressed is how do you put the FRM salary information for professionals made available here or elsewhere. The whole point of the discussion is that before making the choice of FRM as a certification program, it would be important to understand what kind of career prospects it might offer. Especially, if one has in mind the kind of career role for which they are planning and preparing, this kind of specific information can help decide if FRM would be a suitable choice of certification to prepare for a certain career role and what kind of remuneration one might expect on completion of the certification program. These can be useful pointers and have a direct impact on the choice of career path and certification, which usually go hand in hand.
As a general rule, higher academics and a good amount of professional work experience are some of the prerequisites to carve out a successful career in financial risk management and related roles after completing FRM.
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