About Us
For more than 100 years, RMA has been laser focused on one thing: helping its members in the world's financial institutions better understand and address risk. As a trusted partner, RMA has weathered the many economic ups and downs of the last century alongside its members, which now number 1,700+ financial institutions of all sizes, from multi-nationals to local community banks. These institutions are represented by over 16,000 individual RMA members located throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Our members rely on us to keep them abreast of important industry trends and prepare them to face new challenges head-on. Our sound risk management principles are developed for members, by members, and help to build safer, stronger financial institutions, impacting local communities and the global economy.
All of this makes RMA unique - we are the only comprehensive source of risk management tools and education that has spanned the last 100 years. And we look forward to the next 100 as we help the industry come together on the transformative issues of climate, cyber, culture, technology, and more.
Mission
To advance enterprise-wide risk management in the financial services industry through education, products, and community.
Our History
RMA’s first meeting convened in 1914 as the National Association of Credit Men with a group from National Shawmut Bank in New England, whose operations are now part of Bank of America. This was quite an eventful meeting and laid the groundwork for RMA’s value for years to come. As 82 credit professionals were gathered in Rochester, New York, word got around that a major retail company called H.B. Claflin had “collapsed,” having overextended themselves. It came to light that Claflin had been taking loans from several banks without disclosing they were already in debt to many others. Bankers quickly excused themselves from the meeting to make phone calls to check on their exposure. It’s said that several left Rochester altogether, rushing back to their offices to mitigate the damage. It was clear in that first meeting that early members could benefit by sharing borrower information between banks to prevent such losses.
RMA was originally called the Robert Morris Associates, named after American patriot Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Morris, the principal financier of the Revolutionary War, helped establish our country's banking system.
Over the years RMA grew as an organization that could improve bank performance and thus, provide financial stability by arming banks with peer sharing standards, credit education, and critical borrower information. The original goals to build and maintain standards of risk practice, promote friendship and understanding among lending and credit officers, and conduct research in credit and related subjects remain as relevant today as it was in 1914.
While our Association’s name and logo has taken on many forms, the mission has largely been the same – evolving with the industry it serves and helping address the major financial crises of the time.
In the late 1990s, RMA led the industry in the development of operational risk management. By 2000, we had formally expanded our mission– to advance sound risk management principles to help banks avoid a multitude of potential losses that existed outside of credit risk. We also changed our name from Robert Morris Associates, named for the patriot financier, to the Risk Management Assocation. We continued to take a practical business approach, helping banks mitigate risk while allowing them to safely pursue new opportunities.