Risks Committee

The Risk Committee monitors, advises and supports the Board of Directors with respect to risk management and ESG risks (with a particular focus on climate and environmental risks), and the internal control and accounting/reporting model.

With regard to internal control, the Risk Committee:

• provides non-binding opinions on the appointment and dismissal of the heads of internal control and compliance, on their salaries and powers and the means provided for them to perform their duties;
• verifies the adequacy of the internal control structures and procedures, as well as the information flows;
• examines the work plan of the head of internal control and, at least once every six months, the report on the work carried out.

With regard to risk management it:

• monitors, gathers information supports the Board of Directors in the supervision of risk management policies, including their compliance with applicable rules and regulations and their consistency with the strategic guidelines;
• monitors, carries out preliminary analysis, and provides support to the Board of Directors in its supervision of ESG risks, with reference in particular to the implications of climate and environmental risks on business model and strategy
• regularly checks the functioning and efficiency of the risk control and management system and procedures, reporting the results to the Board of Directors;
• reviews plans for calculating the adequacy of the Bank’s current and estimated aggregate capital at consolidated level with respect to large risks that the bank and group are exposed to (ICAAP), reporting the results to the Board of Directors.

With the regard to the financial reporting model it:

• assesses the regulatory compliance of decisions taken by the head of corporate financial reporting, the independent auditors and the Board of Directors in respect of the correct application of accounting standards and their consistency for the preparation of the parent company’s and consolidated financial statements;
• in general, it gathers information for the decisions to be taken by the Board of Directors regarding the financial reports it is responsible for.

Meetings of the Risks Committee are attended by the Statutory Audit Committee, with which it liaises and exchanges information, and the Chief Executive Officer and Group General Manager also attend as guests. The Head of Company Financial Reporting also takes part, as do the heads of the control units.