Oliver Jakob, Chief Risk Officer at Talcott Financial Group, calls for a more nuanced, strategic role for risk in board-level decision-making. As regulatory expectations shift and non-financial threats rise, Jakob argues that boards need fewer dashboards
If there’s one thing Oliver Jakob believes needs to change in financial services, it's the location – both literal and figurative – of the risk function.
Too often, he says, risk is still treated as a compliance check or a reporting unit rather than a strategic partner.
As Chief Risk Officer at Talcott Financial Group, Jakob is determined to push the conversation forward, advocating for a model in which risk is central to governance, strategic thinking and value creation.
Speaking at CeFPro’s Risk Americas 2025 conference, Jakob outlined how Talcott’s approach to risk governance is shaped by its multinational structure.
With operations split across the U.S. and its Japanese parent, Jakob explained that accommodating different time zones, cultures, and communication preferences means the board engagement model must be adaptable.
“We meet with each board member individually ahead of meetings,” he said. “That way the actual board meeting can be short but productive. The real conversations happen in advance.”
This tailored approach serves two functions. First, it ensures board members arrive prepared and informed, ready to engage in high-level discussions rather than being passively walked through reports.
Second, it enables more constructive dialogue. “If you just present to a board without understanding how its members process information, you’re wasting an opportunity,” Jakob argued.
Beyond structure, Jakob emphasised the evolving content of risk reporting itself. “If your board pack looks the same as it did last year, you’re not responding to reality,” he said.
Over the past decade, risk reports have shifted from a narrow focus on market and credit risks to encompass a wider spectrum of non-financial risks – from operational and reputational risks to ESG and geopolitical volatility.
This shift demands that risk functions present their insights not just with data, but with narrative clarity.
“Succinct management reporting is really difficult,” Jakob admitted, adding: “But if the board is getting 400 pages, they’re going to miss the key issues. You need to pull out what matters.”
Jakob highlighted the danger of what he called ‘CYA reporting’ – we’ll leave you to work out the precise acronym, but ultimately he’s talking about the instinct to include everything for fear of missing something.
