Required reading

Over the past year, we have witnessed a unique experiment in what makes financial risk management effective. A succinct supervisory summary of what we have learned should be required reading for all interested parties, argues David Rowe

It is rare that social scientists have the chance to conduct controlled experiments, and the same holds true for risk managers. In the past 12 months, we have probably come as close as possible to observing such an experiment, utterly unplanned as it was. Earlier this year, a group of eight financial supervisors from five countries undertook a preliminary assessment of lessons to be drawn from recent painful events. This was published in March in a 20-page overview entitled Observations on risk