Conquer Fintech’s Frontier: Top Risk Management Courses

Written by CFI Team

Reviewed by Jeff Schmidt

Read Time 7 minutes

Top Risk Management Courses

One thing that any company in finance and technology should try to manage is the level of risk that it’s experiencing, as risks lead to loss of money. To learn how to manage risks effectively, fintech professionals should take advantage of online enterprise risk management courses.

What is a Risk?

Before we discuss which risk management online courses are most beneficial, it’s important to understand what qualifies as risk. In finance and technology, risk is typically defined as the probability that an investment’s outcome will differ from what was expected.

In addition to investment risks, finance firms, banks, insurance companies, asset managers, risk managers, and other finance professionals and organizations face other types of financial risks whose outcomes may differ from expectations.

What is Risk Management?

The risk management process consists of multiple steps. These steps include the following:

1. Identify

The first step to conducting risk management is to identify the risks. There are many types of risks that can impact the finance and technology industry. For example, there are investment risks, ESG risks, regulatory risks, etc. Because of all the different risks that can impact the finance and technology industry, when conducting risk management, it’s important to lay out all the possible risk factors that you could face.

2. Analyze

Once you’ve identified your risk factors, it’s time to analyze them. When analyzing your risks, you need to determine each of their severity levels. You should also determine how many business functions each risk could affect. Make sure to map out your risks and the different functions that they would affect so that you can come up with a risk management framework.

3. Evaluate

In the evaluation stage of the risk management process, you rank and prioritize your risks depending on the severity of their possible impact. You can assess your risks with a qualitative or quantitative risk assessment.

4. Treat

You treat risks by eliminating them or, at the very least, containing them. When “treating” your risks, make sure to notify stakeholders about the risk factors your business is facing and the solutions that you are using to treat your risks.

5. Monitor and Review

For the risks that can’t be immediately eliminated, make sure to monitor them. Fortunately, due to advances in technology, continuously monitoring and reviewing risks is an actual possibility.

Enterprise risk management is vital for large finance and fintech companies to prevent unnecessary financial loss due to environmental, social, governance, cybersecurity, and supply chain risks.

Ways Risk Management Can Help Prevent Financial Loss

Risk management planning can help prevent a company from experiencing money loss in many ways. Some of these are detailed below.

Ensure Compliance with Regulations

Due to the growing complexity of the regulatory environment, failing to meet compliance can lead to hefty fees, bad press, and even a temporary shutdown, leading to financial losses. One way to help ensure that your financial and technology organization isn’t losing money due to a lack of compliance is to devise a risk management process that lessens the chance that you’ll not achieve regulatory compliance.

Assists with Forecasting

Risk management planning and forecasting go hand in hand, as you must first consider possible future events when deciding how best to mitigate risks and avoid financial loss. Thus, risk management planning helps with forecasting and vice versa.

Increases Productivity

By mitigating risks through enterprise risk management, you’re lowering the chance that unfortunate events will slow down processes or cause employee or profit loss. Thus, risk management helps foster productivity.

Helps Preserve Brand Image

Risk management planning helps finance and technology companies continue to run efficiently while remaining in compliance. This, in turn, helps fintech businesses maintain good reputations.

Top Risk Management Courses

You can take courses online to learn how to conduct risk management planning for your finance and technology company. Some of the most popular risk management courses include:

1. RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional Certification

The accredited RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional Certification, or the RIMS-CRMP certification, is the only competency-based risk management credential, making it the perfect course to learn about risk management planning. With the education and practical experience you’ll gain through the RIMS-CRMP certification program, you can elevate your professional status, increase your salary, and prove your skill level and dedication to your place of work.

2. PMI-Risk Management Professional Certification

The PMI-Risk Management Professional Certification, or the PMI-RMP Certification, is a risk management certification program offered by the Project Management Institute. Completing the PMI Risk Management Professional Certification will assure that you’ll have the expertise to spot problems before they happen, mitigate threats to financial project success, master risk management fundamentals and techniques, maximize company results and meet deadlines, leverage and create new working opportunities, and save resources for your project and organization. To complete this certification program, you’ll need to pass an exam.

3. Introduction to Risk Management – CFI

The CFI Introduction to Risk Management course will introduce beginners in risk management planning to the entire spectrum of risks that large and complex financial institutions face. Through this course, students will learn how to identify, describe, and compare the different types of risks that financial institutions must manage.

Going through the CFI Introduction to Risk Management course will also teach risk management professionals about real-life banks that have failed to manage risks effectively. As a result, students of this course will know what a practical risk management framework does and does not look like. More importantly, this risk management course will give aspiring risk analysts and managers the fundamental building blocks to successfully develop their own risk management plans.

Introduction to Risk Management - CFI

Image: Introduction to Risk Management course

4. University of Geneva’s Portfolio and Risk Management Certification

The University of Geneva offers a Portfolio and Risk Management certification program through Coursera. This program teaches finance professionals about new concepts in the investment and risk management industry and teaches students job-relevant risk management skills through hands-on projects.

The University of Geneva Portfolio and Risk Management certification program contains four module courses. These four modules include General Introduction and Key Concepts, Modern Portfolio Theory and Beyond, Asset Allocation, and Risk Management. Students who complete all parts of the Portfolio and Risk Management course program will receive a shareable certificate.

It’s important to note that this program is part of the Coursera Investment Management Specialization program, so individuals who enroll in this course program will also be automatically enrolled in the Investment Management Specialization program.

5. Columbia University’s Financial Engineering and Risk Management Specialization

Columbia University offers a Financial Engineering and Risk Management specialization program that teaches students about complex financial derivatives using stochastic models. This Financial Engineering and Risk Management specialization program also teaches students to develop a systematic, data-driven approach to formulating modeled returns and risks for significant asset classes and optimal portfolios.

Students of this program will even learn about backtests and how to implement trading models and signals in an active, live trading environment. Individuals can enroll in this specialization program through Coursera. Once they complete it, they’ll receive career certificates.

6. New York Institute of Finance Risk Management Specialization

One of the other risk management courses that you can take through Coursera is the New York Institute of Finance Risk Management Specialization course program. Through this particular risk management specialization, students will use statistical models to measure risks associated with different types of investments.

Enrolling in the New York Institute of Finance Risk Management Specialization program will also teach you how to build an operational risk assessment program. By the end of the specialization program, you will understand the concepts and principles of credit risk management and the steps to manage portfolio risks.

Skills you’ll gain by completing this course include risk management for credit and measurement, market risk measurement and management, financial statistics and probability application, and operational risk management and measurement. Individuals who complete this specialization program will earn a career certificate.

7. University of California Irvine’s Introduction to Risk Management

The University of California Irvine offers an Introduction to Risk Management course program as part of Coursera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity and Risk Management Specialization program. Through the Introduction to Risk Management course, students will learn new cybersecurity and risk management concepts from industry experts. They’ll also learn job-relevant cybersecurity and risk management skills. Individuals who complete this course will receive a shareable certificate.

8. Financial Forecasting, Modeling, and Risk Management Course Bundle

The Udemy Financial Forecasting, Modeling, and Risk Management course teaches individuals about the fundamentals of risk management in finance. Thus, through this course, you’ll learn everything from the basics of financial modeling and forecasting to analyzing financial forecasts format using ratio analysis, to being able to distinguish between risk management and risk measurement, to learning how to build financial and financial forecasting models, and more. This comprehensive course bundle is made up of 11 sections.

9. Financial Risk Management (FRM): Foundational FRM Principles

Through the Udemy Financial Risk Management Foundational FRM Principles course, students will learn how to identify risks an organization may face and manage risks with the goal of possibly eliminating or reducing risk exposure. This course will also teach students how to conduct an in-depth analysis of organizational risks.

The content for the Financial Risk Management (FRM): Foundational FRM Principles course program comprises four core sections. These four sections include Identify Financial Risks, Analyze Financial Risks, Managing Financial Risks, and Next Steps and Learning Activities. To receive the official certification for this course, individuals must pass a certification exam.

10. New York Institute of Finance: Credit Risk Management: Frameworks and Strategies

The New York Institute of Finance: Credit Risk Management: Frameworks and Strategies course is great for individuals interested in financial risk management. This is because this Coursera course teaches students how to use business and industry analysis to understand companies, projects, business models, and financing proposals.

This course also teaches students how to prepare a qualitative risk analysis and provides a comprehensive understanding of the principles and concepts of credit risk.

Anyone who completes this Credit Risk Management course will receive a shareable certificate. Note that the Credit Risk Management: Frameworks and Strategies course is part of the Coursera Risk Management Specialization program. Therefore, individuals enrolled in this course will automatically also be enrolled in the Coursera Risk Management Specialization program.

Take Your Fintech Career to the Next Level By Enrolling in Risk Management Courses

One of the best ways to ensure that your finance and technology career is secure is to help your place of work improve its risk management practices. To do this, you must learn the ins and outs of risk analysis and risk management planning through risk management courses.

Fortunately, CFI offers a plethora of risk management courses for finance professionals of every level. For a comprehensive list of our risk management courses and resources, consult our Learning Risk Management with CFI page.