The EBRD pioneers in risk

The EBRD’s mission is to bring governance and funds to eastern Europe, and the way op risk figures in its strategy is different to any commercial bank. But it is no less challenging, say Mike Williams, the EBRD’s head of risk and compliance, and Julie Williams, its head of operational risk

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is a bank with a difference. It is an international organisation, bound by international treaty, and answerable only to its national sovereign shareholders. They are tough task masters, says Julie Williams, head of operational risk at the EBRD, but at least at one level, it makes life easier. She says with a wry smile, “We don’t have the pleasure of regulatory visits, thus no conversations with the Financial Services Authority. The bank