Operational risk: Lessons from non-financial organisations

Abstract

The discipline of operational risk management has been fast maturing within the financial services sector. Regulatory initiatives such as Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley and the EU's Solvency 2 and Capital Adequacy Directives have played their part in this, as have business factors such as increasing competition and the concomitant need for cost savings and improved risk-based decision making. As a result of these drivers, the practice of operational risk management within financial services organisations has advanced to quite some degree — with major strides being made in areas such as risk quantification, loss data collection and pooling, capital analysis, business continuity management, etc. However, despite these advances, there remain many lessons for the sector to learn. This paper explores some of the more pertinent lessons that financial services risk professionals can learn from other industry sectors. It also provides some potential solutions to further increase the effectiveness of operational risk management frameworks.