Risk Europe 2003: Still no “best practice” for integrating economic and regulatory capital, says Buerger

There is still no “best practice” approach to implementing an effective risk management framework that integrates economic and regulatory capital requirements, Peter Buerger, head of group risk control at Germany’s Commerzbank, told delegates attending Risk magazine’s eighth annual Risk Europe conference in Paris.

Buerger said while the industry’s goal is to fully understand risks and factor them into business decisions, the reality is that risk managers in most institutions are struggling to link risk and return. “[We] have a long way to go, and in many institutions there is a need for fundamental culture change before serious progress can be made,” said Buerger.

He also spelled out his belief that banks need to move from being risk takers to risk managers, and said there has been some progress in this