In response to the global economic downturn 69% of organisations have reviewed their approach to risk
Marsh released a survey profiling the impact of the financial crisis on risk management professionals. The survey profiled 750 risk managers across seven sectors from five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). StrategicRISK reveals a snapshot of the findings here.
In response to the global economic downturn 69% of organisations said they have reviewed their approach to risk. The downturn has also prompted senior managers to take a closer interest in risk. Almost three quarters (73%) of participants agreed that risk management is now more important at the most senior levels. Unsurprisingly, financial institutions are the ones most likely to be implementing change in their risk management procedures. At the other end of the spectrum public bodies and life sciences firms have been less impacted by the crisis.
One risk manager said: ‘Since Lehman hit the boardroom in a significant way there is now a limit set to our organisation’s appetite for risk...We are being selective about the sustainability of the contracts we take on board and the sectors we want to be in. In terms of suppliers, we blindly relied on external benchmarking before, and now we will scrutinise them to a far greater degree.’
As a result of the downturn, costs are being cut across the board, and yet risk management seems largely immune – over a third (34%) of participants expect their risk management budgets to increase. And despite expectations of a hardening insurance market only a quarter (27%) of participants expect to spend more on insurance. Overall the findings suggest that organisations intend to invest heavily in risk management infrastructure and general strengthening of risk management departments.
