Establishing sustainable risk reporting that unlocks trust and organisational value

Now more than ever, business professionals face an evolving array of risks to the ultimate success of their business. Cyber risk is proving to be a rapidly iterative threat, legal and compliance risk evolves as political landscapes change, operational risk grows more complex as organisations continue to move towards automation and the ever-present desire to please the customer keeps reputational risk top-of-mind for many of today’s leaders. One of the biggest challenges organisations, and their risk professionals, face is how to effectively distil all the risk and control data that is gathered through various sources into intelligent, coherent, and consistent risk reporting, reporting that executives can easily decipher and rely upon to make strategic decisions for the safety and soundness of their company. In this paper, the reader will learn some basic concepts that have worked for the author across several different types of organisations, both big and small, in the US Consumer Lending industry but have relevance to any type of business operating in the financial sector. The concepts discussed may seem somewhat rudimentary on their own, but when executed collectively arm the risk professional with a well-built mission statement upon which to navigate through various industry and organisational challenges. The concepts can be used to mitigate the difficulties of executing a risk programme in a dysfunctional organisation or can optimise an already impactful and efficient programme in a supportive organisational culture. One will find that organisational culture plays a dramatic role in the overall success of a risk reporting programme, but by adhering to the key concepts, the reader can aspire to drive change for the better by helping their leadership see the value of logical, credible and consistent risk reporting.