BlackRock’s Ron Ratcliffe on scenario analysis and stress testing at Risk Americas

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Geopolitical Instability Forces A New Era Of Stress Testing

In this onsite interview at Risk Americas, Ron Ratcliffe, Managing Director and Head Strategist for Portfolio Analytics at BlackRock, discusses how firms are evolving scenario analysis and stress testing frameworks to respond to increasingly fast-moving geopolitical and market risks. He explores the balance between AI-driven analytics and human judgment in building more responsive and resilient risk management strategies.

May 27, 2026

Ronald Ratcliffe, PhD, Managing Director, Head Strategist for Portfolio Analytics, BlackRock, Inc

Tags: Resilience AI and Technology (including Fintech) Market Risk Operational and Non Financial Risk Stress Testing

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Ron Ratcliffe explores how risk teams are adapting to a world shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, persistent market volatility, and rapidly evolving risk regimes. He explains the importance of building scenarios that capture a broad range of potential outcomes and highlights how stress testing frameworks must continuously evolve as new events and risks emerge.

The discussion also examines the growing role of AI and advanced analytics in modern risk management. While technology is improving the ability to analyse unstructured data and identify patterns, Ratcliffe emphasises that human judgment remains critical when assessing geopolitical developments, calibrating scenarios, and making strategic risk decisions in uncertain environments.

Ronald Ratcliffe, PhD Bio

Ronald Ratcliffe, PhD, is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s Applied Portfolio Analysis practice area within the Analytics & Quantitative Solutions (AQS) group. He focuses on multi-asset portfolio risk, scenario analysis, and portfolio construction. Dr. Ratcliffe's service with BlackRock dates back to 2004, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Prior to joining AQS, he led the Market-Driven Scenarios (MDS) initiative as Head of Cross-Platform Scenario Analysis in the Risk & Quantitative Analysis (RQA) group. Previously in RQA, he was Head of Multi-Asset Investment Risk for the Americas West region. In the Portfolio Management Group (PMG), he was a portfolio manager and developed systematic macro trading strategies. Prior to joining BGI, Dr. Ratcliffe was a senior manager at KPMG in corporate valuation and international transfer pricing. Previously, he was the chief economist for Latin America at SG Cowen Securities, a subsidiary of Societe Generale. Before that he was with Bankers Trust Company (now part of Deutsche Bank) where he carried out country risk analysis. Dr. Ratcliffe earned BA degrees in economics and in political science, with distinction and with departmental honors in economics, from Stanford University. He received a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.