Survey: FSPs Ramping Up Risk Management Investment (May 19, 2015)
Financial services providers are beefing up their risk management capabilities in the wake of the increasing threat of cybercrime and fraud, a new report says. Nearly nine in 10 financial services firms plan to increase investment in risk management over the near term, according to Accenture’s 2015 Global Risk Management Study. Based on a survey of more than 450 risk management executives in banking, capital markets and insurance, 86 percent of respondents said their firms planned to invest more in risk management over the next two years. Twenty-six percent reported plans to increase spending on risk management by more than 20 percent. And it’s not just more money being invested—it’s also more time. Eighty-two percent of respondents said emerging risks from cybercrime and fraud are accounting for more of their time than ever before, while 34 percent said understanding cyber risk now is the most important capability in the function of a risk manager.
“The combination of market forces, advances in technology and customer demands are pushing financial institutions to become more digital and requiring a broader range of skills from today’s risk management professionals,” said Steve Culp, senior global managing director for Accenture Finance and Risk Services. That need has led to a surge in demand for professionals with those skills, the survey found. Nearly half of respondents said their firms had targeted cyber risk experts to fill risk management roles, while 36 percent had targeted fraud experts. The demand for talent also has driven firms to look to former cybercriminals themselves; 36 percent of respondents said their firms had sought to hire former hackers. “Financial services firms are struggling to keep pace with the demand for people with highly specialized skills,” said Culp. “To fill these gaps, most firms will have to look outside of their organizations—and the competition for the right people is increasingly intense.”
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