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Global Association of Risk Professionals certifications

The Global Association of Risk Professionals is a not-for-profit membership body built around a single question: can this person measure and manage financial risk? Its answer is the FRM, first sat in 1997 and now held by more than 100,000 people.

Exam delivery: Computer-based at PSI test centres, or ATA centres in mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Thailand; windows in May, August and November

One flagship and two newer certificates

GARP's catalogue is short and focused. The Financial Risk Manager is what people usually have in mind when they name the association: two computer-based exams and two years of experience, aimed at market, credit, operational and liquidity risk in banks, insurers and asset managers. Beside it GARP has added two narrower certificates that reflect where risk work is moving, one on sustainability and climate risk and one on risk and artificial intelligence.

  • FRM: the full certification, with a curriculum a committee of practitioners and academics revises every year.
  • SCR: a single-exam certificate on climate and sustainability risk.
  • RAI: a single-exam certificate on the fundamentals of AI risk.
  • ERP: a further certification that GARP's CPD pages name alongside the FRM; this site does not cover it yet.

Two features set GARP apart from a commercial exam provider. The first is that annual curriculum review: the syllabus is a moving target, which keeps it close to current practice and makes old study material risky. The second is continuing development. GARP runs its CPD programme in two-year cycles and expects FRM holders to earn forty credits per cycle, half that for the newer certificates. The association phrases this as an expectation of professionals rather than a renewal gate, and its FRM pages describe no expiry. Exams run at PSI test centres worldwide, with ATA covering Thailand, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Professional

Frequently asked

What does GARP stand for?
The Global Association of Risk Professionals, a not-for-profit membership association for people who work in financial risk.
Is the FRM GARP's only certification?
It is the main one. GARP also offers the SCR certificate on sustainability and climate risk and the RAI certificate on risk and AI.
Do GARP credentials require continuing education?
GARP expects FRM holders to earn forty CPD credits every two years and holders of its newer certificates twenty. Its FRM pages do not describe an expiry for missing them.

Official certification portal: www.garp.org/frm

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Last reviewed 26 September 2026 · Getting Digital