The Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA) is a non-profit, member-driven professional organization that focuses on the development and education of the risk management profession. Its membership provides a network of risk professionals working to set standards for the global risk profession. PRMIA offers the Professional Risk Manager designation and several other certificate programs for professional certification purposes.
The Professional Risk Manager (PRM) designation is a professional certification offered by PRMIA.
The designation was first awarded in 2004. The PRM is an "independent validation" of skills within the financial risk management profession, and professional ethics. The PRM and the FRM offered by the Global Association of Risk Professionals are often compared as being the two definitive risk management designations in the industry.
PRM Candidates are required to pass two exams in sequence; both 4 hours in duration:
Finance theory, financial instruments, and financial markets;
Mathematical foundations of risk measurement (calculus, matrix- and linear algebra, probability, statistics, and numerical methods)
Risk management practices (risk management frameworks [capital allocation, regulatory capital, economic capital, capital adequacy], operational risk, credit risk, counterparty credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, FTP, ALM);
Case studies;
PRMIA standards of best practice, conduct and ethics
The exams are computer-based and the questions are all multiple choice; the passing grade is 60%. The exams must be completed over a period of up to two years; they are offered during four specific testing windows per year.
Historic individual exam pass rates, under the pre-2019 structure, were 54% for Exam II (mathematics), 59% for Exams I and III (finance, and risk management), and 78% for Exam IV (standards and case studies); with an overall completion-rate of just over 65%.
The PRM program recognizes other professional designations and gives partial credit to "cross-over" candidates, as well as to graduates of select university programs.