Departing ABN AMRO risk chief says climate, cyber among priorities

The chief risk officer of ABN AMRO shared her view on the Dutch bank’s biggest risk focus areas and the accomplishments of her tenure a month ahead of her planned departure.

Tanja Cuppen said in a Q&A with the bank that accompanied the publishing of its integrated annual report for 2023 on Wednesday that climate risk and cybercrime will remain priorities for the bank. She noted ABN AMRO will be “keeping a close eye” on climate transition risks as regulations require its clients to reduce their environmental footprint.

“The increased frequency and intensity of severe weather conditions, as we witnessed in Europe last year, can imply serious physical risks for our clients, such as flooding or impact of heat and drought,” she said. “If our clients are impacted, we will be impacted. We use stress testing to assess the potential impact of severe events.”