Remaking financial services: risk management five years after the crisis

Firms have been working post-crisis to remake their risk governance frameworks, and many of the themes seen in previous years remain a feature of this year’s study. The largest shift this year is a renewed focus on risk culture. While risk culture has been a high priority since the crisis, senior management and boards have become less certain of the culture prevailing in different business units. In addition, management has shifted its focus to operational and reputational risk following high-profile conduct cases. Chief risk officers (CROs) pointed out that the challenge is twofold, requiring both buy-in throughout the organization and the tools to monitor and assess that buy-in. Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents cited the balance between a sales-driven front-office culture and a risk-focused culture as their top organizational challenge; 38% cited a lack of systems and data, the second most frequent challenge raised. CROs noted that without adequate risk data and systems, accountability for risk is undermined and can damage the culture