1. Short Description

Professional Risk Manager (PRM) is a professional designation offered by the PRMIA (Professional Risk Managers' International Association) to risk management professionals who complete series of 4 examinations.

Financial risk management is the practice of creating economic value in a firm by using financial instruments to manage exposure to risk, particularly credit and market risk. Similar to general risk management, financial risk management requires identifying the sources of risk, measuring risk, and plans to address them. As a specialization of risk management, financial risk management focuses on when and how to hedge using financial instruments to manage costly exposures to risk.

Recently, because of the adoption of the Basel Accord, risk management has become very rewarding place in finance. In order to standarize risk managing qualifications PRMIA (but also some other organizations like GARP ) offered certification program for people interested in Financial Risk Management. Currently PRM and FRM certificates are the most prestigous and respected designations in this field.

Candidates are required to pass four exams to be awarded the PRM designation. You can choose to take the complete PRM exam in one sitting or in four separate modules, which can be taken in any order over a period of up to two years. The only pre-requisite is membership in PRMIA.

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2. Governing Body

Governing body for PRM examination is PRMIA (Professional Risk Managers' Association).

Professional Risk Managers' Association (PRMIA) is a not-for-profit association consisting of 43000 individuals around the world who are involved in financial risk management. Members come from over 170 countries, and work in regional and global banks, asset management firms, insurance companies, central banks, securities regulators, hedge funds, universities, large industrial corporations and multinationals. What is very important PRMIA has broad activities (not just certificates) and is offering a vast array of resources to its members, including:

• Local Chapter Network — Over 200 meetings each year are offered through local PRMIA chapters giving you access to the best practices of the global risk profession and to a local network of your colleagues.
• The PRM Certification — Endorsed by leading universities and businesses, the PRM certification is the global standard for financial risk managers and is offered in 140 countries.
• The PRMIA C-Suite — Over 1,500 C-Level officers and their direct reports belong to the PRMIA C-Suite and have access to governance resources, boardroom roundtables and a network of peers defining the best practices of risk management.
• Online Resources — PRMIA members have access to a wealth of online resources including ROSE, our proprietary Risk Online Search Engine, the PRMIA Links Network, a Jobs Board with hundreds of risk

Contact Details:

Professional Risk Managers' Association
PRMIA
2711 Centerville Road
Suite 120 PMB #5527 Wilmington
DE 19808 USA
E-mail: certification@prmia.org • Internet: www.prmia.org

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3. Registration and Fees

Candidates are required to pass four exams to be awarded the PRM designation. Candidate can choose to take the complete PRM exam in one sitting or in four separate modules, which can be taken in any order over a period of up to two years. The only pre-requisite for program enrollment is membership in PRMIA.

Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more candidates from the same organization. PRMIA also offers scholarship discounts if a candidate's annual income is below US$25,000 and exam expenses will not be reimbursed by a third party. Scholarships can be claimed when registering.

Sustaining Members receive discounted pricing on PRM exam vouchers. Sustaining Memberships are US $100. Discounted memberships are available for academics and students (US$50) and for those from emerging markets (US $25).

Registration is handled online or via fax. The exam is offered in secure, monitored testing facilities in any of nearly 4,000 locations, operated by Pearson VUE, in over 140 countries.

The PRM program recognizes other professional designations and gives partial credit towards completion of the requirements for the PRM certification. "Cross-over" candidates need only to pass the following exams to receive the PRM:

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4. Deadlines

The exams can be taken on any business day of the year. Results are usually available within 15 business days after the exam has been taken.

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5. Exam Structure

The exams are computer-based and the questions are all multiple choice. The complete PRM exam consists of 120 questions. Exam questions are randomly drawn, according to the syllabus order and weightings, from the exam database.

Program provides for great flexibility, offering one six-and-one-half-hour sitting for those wishing to complete evaluation in one day, or four separate exams, varying in length from one to two hours, which can be taken in any order over a period of up to two years. Passing all four exams leads to the award of the PRM designation.

The PRM Body of Knowledge is contained in freely in the Study Guide available on prmia.org website (the Study Guide is undergoing improvement and is not available online).

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6. Preparation

PRMIA provides Self-Study Guide (FREE) as a tool for you to plan candidate's preparation in a disciplined fashion.

The Self-Study Guide provides key learning objectives, detailed guidance to specific pages and references in the recommended reading materials and estimated study times. It also includes over 100 sample questions on which you can evaluate your understanding of the texts.

However, probably the most useful and recommended is the The Professional risk Managers' Handbook. This Handbook authored by PRMIA shall be considered to be a basic material for PRM Candidates. It covers everything for the PRM examination:

The reading materials for Exam IV are available free of charge by clicking List Exam IV

Most of FRM candidates particapate in FRM preparation courses. Review sessions are offered by a number of third party companies:

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7. Forum

If you have any question about the PRM you may ask it on our PRM Forum.

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8. Links

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