EY has launched its 13th annual survey of banking chief risk officers (CROs) together with the Institute of International Finance (IIF).
Operational resilience, cybersecurity, and concerns about the implementation of regulatory rules were top of mind for CROs around the world, but these risks ranked differently for banks.
CROs across APAC are much more focused on operational resilience than global counterparts and though risk officers in the region are keeping close attention to hackers and other cyber threats, those risks ranked lower for them than for executives in other parts of the world.
The survey showed that 64% of Asia-Pacific CROs ranked operational resilience as the biggest threat to their business over the next 12 months (relative to 33% globally), followed by cybersecurity, with 55% (relative to 73% globally).
David Scott, EY Asia-Pacific Financial Services Risk Management Leader commented, “The issues CROs are facing around the world are quite similar, but the prioritisation and focus on certain risks vary by region. As the global financial services landscape continues to face unprecedented volatility and a high pace of digital and technology change, operational resilience is front and centre in the agenda for CROs in Asia Pacific as a critical success factor. How are FS players adapting to this reality? By boosting their ability to foresee, cope with and bounce back from operational shocks, with a strong emphasis on leveraging technology and more advanced analytics, including the use of AI, to develop capability to identify and manage emerging risks more rapidly. The focus on technology also highlights concerns over cybersecurity risk, which is always a top area of attention for Asian CROs, just as it is for their global counterparts.”
Top 5 risk management risks over next 12 months
CROs globally are aligned when it comes to emerging risks over the next five years, but risk officers in APAC are more concerned around climate risk, the use of AI and geopolitics than those in other parts of the world, underscoring talent shortage and skills gap between different regions and how trade and political tensions affect them differently.
“Looking ahead, it’s clear to see banks in APAC recognise that they have work to do to develop their climate and nature-related risk management capabilities, as well as on understanding the change to banks’ risk profiles from emerging technologies like GenAI, but the good thing is many of them are implementing transformation programs to address skill and personnel shortage in those areas, as well as investing heavily in new technology,” Scott said.
“Geopolitical risk is an issue that isn’t likely to go away any time soon, so banks in Asia and around the world are keeping a close eye on that because of the different ways it might impact their operations and business going forward. That could range from potential cyber warfare between nations to disruptions in global trade, for example,” he added.
What emerging risks do you believe will be most important for your organisation over the next five years? APAC figures:
You can read the full report here.
