Former chairman of Australian regulator urges credit risk rethink

Banks need to move their focus from credit risk measurement to credit risk management, according to Jeffrey Carmichael, former chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Carmichael made his call for a greater concentration on credit risk management during an address at the World Bank in Washington, DC. His talk was part of a workshop on assessing, managing and supervising financial risk, focusing on emerging markets.

“A lot of focus is now on the IT [information technology] systems that measure risk,” said Carmichael, who is now a consultant. He told the audience of risk professionals from emerging markets that, while a credit risk model is a set of