Turning risk into a competitive advantage that drives growth

Risk management is often seen as a defensive function, but true excellence requires it to be a strategic enabler. This year's Best Risk Management award winners from Singapore Corporate Awards share their insights on how a mature approach to uncertainty can empower leadership to take calculated risks in an era of constant disruption.

Shirish Apte, chairman of Keppel's board risk committee, emphasizes the importance of a strong risk culture and tone from the top. Keppel's enterprise risk management framework considers both financial and non-financial risks across all aspects of the business, forming the basis for the board risk appetite that is cascaded through the organization as key risk indicators. This provides the discipline and early warning needed for informed decision-making.

Carina Lee, group chief risk officer of OCBC, highlights that risk management is embedded throughout the client lifecycle and across the organization. It is not just about identifying and mitigating risks, but also assessing growth opportunities with discipline and foresight. OCBC reinforces a strong risk culture through processes such as early warning risk forums, forward-looking stress tests, and scenario analyses, which help identify emerging vulnerabilities and provide decision-makers with greater clarity on potential outcomes.

Lim Chung Chun, chairman and CEO of iFast Corporation, notes that risk management's real enemy is complacency. The organization has built a culture where courage and curiosity sit alongside controls, and teams ask how to take the right risks faster, with their eyes open. This philosophy, inspired by a Chinese saying about crossing the river by feeling for the stones, ensures that risk is seen as an enabler rather than an obstacle.

Lee Sze Leong, managing director and CEO of Sing Investments & Finance, stresses that strong risk management must be set from the top and embedded organization-wide. SingFinance sees risk management as an enabler of confident decision-making, with risk discussed early as part of opportunity evaluation and assumptions challenging. Good risk management creates the confidence to move forward, balancing ambition with sound judgment and driving sustainable growth.

Andrew Lim, CEO of United Overseas Insurance, clarifies that risk management is not about avoiding uncertainty but building the confidence to take the right opportunities. Risk culture starts with leadership, who invest in risk awareness and ownership across the company. This ensures decisions are made within the risk appetite and aligned with long-term value creation, empowering employees to manage uncertainty with discipline and confidence.

Finally, United Overseas Insurance's Andrew Lim emphasizes that risk management and bold leadership are not in tension. In a fast-moving industry where hesitation is punished as severely as recklessness, they have built a proactive, forward-looking risk culture rather than a rear-view compliance exercise. Their teams identify, quantify, and assess risk early, treating it as an input to strategy rather than a compliance hurdle.

This approach turns governance into innovation and positions the organization to navigate uncertainty and adapt to changing conditions.