Governance structure
Our governance
Our Board’s role is to provide entrepreneurial leadership of Aviva, within a framework of prudent and effective controls to assess and manage risk.
A strong system of governance throughout the Group is essential to:
- ensure the business runs smoothly
- aid effective decision making
- support the achievement of our objectives.
Our Board is responsible for promoting our long-term success for the benefit of shareholders and for:
- setting our strategic aims
- ensuring an appropriate system of governance is in place
- setting our risk appetite
- making sure we are adequately resourced
- making sure we have effective controls in place
- setting our values and supporting our culture.
To discharge their responsibility, our Board has established frameworks for risk management and internal control using a 'three lines of defence' model and reserves to itself the setting of the Group's risk appetite.
Our frameworks are important to help us manage risks that could stop the Board achieving their objectives. They are designed to identify and manage, rather than eliminate, the risk of failure to achieve business objectives. They can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against material misstatement or losses.
We regularly review our frameworks and we comply with the Financial Reporting Council’s Guidance on Risk Management, Internal Control and Related Financial and Business Reporting.
Governance structure
Our Board retains ultimate responsibility for internal control and risk management, and their effectiveness, and carries out a review of the systems on an annual basis. In-depth monitoring of the establishment and operation of prudent and effective controls in order to assess and manage risks associated with the Group's operations is delegated to the Audit, Risk and Customer & Sustainability Committees which report regularly to our Board.