Introduction: Understanding Risk Culture and What To Do About It

Patricia Jackson

Concerns about risk culture in financial firms, fostered by the 2007–08 financial crisis and perhaps even more by the exposure of many different conduct failings in the industry since the crisis, have propelled the topic to the top of board and regulatory agendas. Sizeable operational problems in some industrial companies have raised similar questions about the safety culture. This book looks at risk culture in the round, covering the fundamental questions that many are asking about the role of the board and senior management in assessing and setting culture, and the enablers that can be used to achieve an appropriate risk culture. The authors come from a variety of backgrounds and countries, and include leading regulators, academics and industry professionals from different fields.

Although it is clear that risk culture must be set from the top of any organisation, it is equally clear that this is not enough to achieve the goal. New mechanisms and techniques are required to ensure that risk culture is embedded in decisions, and there needs to be more intensive scrutiny within firms of wider factors driving behaviour. In some of these areas, thinking in the financial services