Top Risk Review: October 2020

How is the operational risk landscape changing?

Risk profiles have seen rapid and significant changes as a result of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and it doesn't look like things will settle down anytime soon. The latest Top Risk Review, published in October 2020, will help you understand the important changes to operational risk profiles so you can be prepared to manage them.

If you're a member of ORX then you can download the detailed report outlining the survey results on our members-only website. We've also identified the highlights and top 5 risks for everyone to read about in a free summary report. Download the report today to help make sure you're ready for the changes in risk profiles ahead.

Top 5 operational risks facing op risk today

Information security and cyber is the industry's biggest concern

The October 2020 risk review showed that information security and cyber risk continues to be the industry's biggest concern. This reflects our findings of both the ORX Operational Risk Horizon 2020 where information security and cyber was the top risk, and the recent Covid Risk Review where it was second only to business continuity.

The continued importance of information security and cyber is driven by the heightened external threat environment, alongside a rapid industry-wide push for digitalisation which has been accelerated by the pandemic.

Business continuity and third party also high

Third party and business continuity also feature highly in this industry risk review. Despite continuity plans proving successful in the early stages of the pandemic, financial organisations are still worried about business continuity. As we see the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic across much of the world, the industry will continue to operate contingency plans. 

Similarly, concerns about third party risk are also driven by the changing and negative economic environment. While work has been done to improve third-party management, their overall resilience and liquidity continues to threaten the financial industry. 

The final two operational risks that made the top 5 were technology and regulatory compliance.

Download the report for a global view of the op risk agenda

Carried out twice a year, the Top Risk Review is based on a survey of operational risk professionals from across our global membership. The survey acts as a sense check of operational risk profiles, gives you deeper insight into the key drivers of heightened risks and provides an indication of how things may develop in the future. The report includes the top 5 risks and how they've changed over the year, alongside analysis of key themes and findings.

Download the latest Top Risk Review to discover the top 5 risks and for more analysis