Art of influence

Tom Wilson's work helped change the way the industry thinks about credit risk, alternative risk transfer and corporate risk culture. What now for ING Insurance's new head of risk management? By Navroz Patel

He may be best known for challenging the hegemony of Merton-type credit risk models with the development of a new approach to portfolio credit risk in 1997, but Tom Wilson's influence is much more wide-ranging and subtle.

As a consultant during the 1990s, he had a hand in reshaping a number of major European banks' risk management functions and derivatives businesses. More recently, Wilson has focused on the insurance sector and was appointed head of risk management at ING Insurance in Amsterdam