4

Board sign-off and embedding of the ORSA

4.1

The Board plays a crucial role in owning the ORSA process, actively steering the process and embedding outcomes of the process into the overall decision-making framework. The PRA expects the ORSA report to evidence the board sign-off, and the key conclusions and management actions agreed. The report will be expected to provide details of how the different elements of the ORSA assessment have been considered (ie if a breach is within risk appetite) and how the output of the assessment supports strategic decisions.

4.2

Although the detail may not necessarily form part of the report, the PRA expects firms to have good supporting evidence which demonstrates any board or committee discussion and sign-off, and underlying material used during these assessments. A log of key decisions, documents used, and a list of follow-up actions for named individuals are examples of useful evidence of these processes.

4.3

To demonstrate embedding of the ORSA, some firms have introduced high-level management information as part of the ORSA framework (an ‘ORSA dashboard’) which follows a similar structure to the ORSA report but with up-to-date information presented visually, with tables, charts and key messages. This has enabled the board to revisit key decisions taken periodically, analyse the current and future risk profile, assess material risk drivers, and challenge the firm’s solvency assessment and strategy. Firms are encouraged to use methods such as these.