What is FRM ?
Financial Risk Management (FRM) is the globally accepted academic program concentrating in risk management various financial aspects with its designation standard being equivalent to the CFA program. However, unlike the CFA program that specializes in financial analysis and investment management, the FRM program focuses more on specific topics in finance i.e. financial risk management in various areas including operational risk, market risk, liquidity risk, inflation risk, business risk, legal risk, reputational risk, and sector risk.
The FRM program is currently renowned as one of the most accepted financial designation in the global markets, particularly in the periods with heightened global risks making demands for financial risk manager of the financial institutions, financial markets, and other businesses grow larger as well. That is, those who earn the FRM designation would expose to greater opportunities in many of aspects of finance careers such as fund manager, risk advisor in corporates and/or other financial institutions, risk analyst, and risk manager.
The FRM program consists of 2 levels of examination including FRM Part I which focuses on foundations of risk management, quantitative analysis, financial markets and products, and valuation and risk models, and FRM Part II which focuses more on applications of financial tools including market risk measurement and management, credit risk measurement and management, operational and integrated risk management, liquidity and treasury risk measurement and management, risk management and investment management, and current issues in financial markets. In addition, not only financial designation earned from the FRM program which is regarded as a great way to start finance career, academic curriculum of the FRM program is also comparable to a master’s degree in the various national and regional educational systems such as the United States, European Union, China, Singapore and Taiwan.
What is FRM used for ?
Not only finance knowledge and professional skills in financial risk management gained from the FRM program, the applicant will also be entitled with the FRM designation in which he/she can use FRM designated after his/her name, which is similar to earning the CFA charter or Ph.D. However, in order to be designated as the Financial Risk Manager under the FRM designation, the applicant must achieve both levels of the FRM examination and has work experience in finance-related field at least for 2 years. Currently, the FRM program becomes more popular among financial professionals due to higher demands of financial institutions, financial markets, and other related businesses for specialists in financial risk management. This has led to greater opportunities for those who earn the FRM certificate in serving key positions in finance fields such as fund manager, or Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
FRM test schedule ?
There are 2 test sessions for the FRM program (both FRM Part I and FRM Part II) which are arranged in May and November of each year. Those interested in applying can visit https://www.garp.org for further details of the FRM test schedule. Moreover, both levels of the FRM program can be applied without any minimum requirements for educational levels or work experiences. However, it is required for the FRM Part II candidates to have passed the FRM Part I first.
How to register for FRM ?
In applying for both levels of the FRM program, applicant can register online at https://www.garp.org by entering personal information, selecting desired test session, and paying for registration fee via online payment channel. For applicant registering for the FRM for the first time, he/she is subject to one-time entrance fee of 400 USD. The FRM registration fee also depends on how early the applicant register for the test in which the earlier registration will subject to cheaper testing fee. For early registration (4 months prior to the test date), testing fee is 425 USD. After that, if the applicant still register within the standard deadline (3 months prior to the test date), the applicant has to pay 550 USD for the test. For late registration (1 month prior to the test date), testing fee costs a lot more at 725 USD. Hence, anyone who wishes to apply for the FRM should carefully select the test date and prepare for the test in advance to save the extra testing fee.
FRM test center ?
Examination of the FRM program are based on the same standards globally. Also the FRM exams are arranged in the same periods in every country. For Thailand, applicant can visit https://www.garp.org for further details and announcement for test center arranged for the FRM program.
Recommended books for FRM ?
The most popular preparation books for the FRM program is the FRM Kaplan Schweser book series, which come from the same publisher of the CFA preparation books widely used among the CFA candidates. This is because the FRM Kaplan Schweser books are well-known from their conciseness and completeness of materials used in the examination. Furthermore, exercises and mock exams provided in the books are quite close to the real exams as well.
Courses for FRM preparation ?
Preparation for the FRM program is very challenging as curriculum and materials are more concentrated and specific, compared to the CFA program which cover overall topics in finance and investment areas. As such, materials in the FRM program are more detailed, and contain applications of various financial models. Hence, the FRM designation is regarded as the important financial certificate with high standard, which can provide a great way to success in finance careers. The FRM preparation course at Chulatutor can help you change the FRM program from the “challenging exam” to be the “easy exam” through teaching techniques providing strong foundation of finance knowledge, and paving ways for each of more challenging FRM materials.
