More than half of City compliance managers contacted by the Chartered Management Institute have no confidence in the ability of their operational risk management systems to adapt to future change.
The survey of 109 City instutions, sponsored by risk management firm Optial, finds that most are still reliant on spreadsheets to manage compliance and none give top rating to existing systems
Anthony Epstein, chairman of the Chartered Management Institute Operational Risk Forum, comments: "We were concerned to find such a strong reliance on spreadsheets for compliance monitoring (71%) and reporting (67%), given the well-documented history of errors that have been caused by using spreadsheets for consolidation, and their inherent lack of security and auditability. This may be a key factor contributing to the respondents’ lack of confidence in their systems."
Fifty-seven per cent of firms now believe they need an overall risk model to ensure they catch any risks that individual systems might miss, but only 38% have implemented such a system. The report also shows that two-thirds of firms (67%) rank workflow procedures as very important to managing risk.