Financial Firms Struggling to Assess Risks of Disruptive Technologies, Accenture Report Finds

An overwhelming majority of financial firms’ risk managers don’t believe they can adequately assess the risks of disruptive technologies but are open to new strategies and tools to better manage emerging threats, according to a new report by Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

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Percentages of risk managers who are ‘fully capable’ of assessing the risks associated with their organization’s adoption of each of the following technologies. (Photo: Business Wire)

The report, “Accenture 2019 Global Risk Management Study,” is based on a survey of nearly 700 risk management executives in the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors globally.

Among the key findings: Only 11% of risk managers describe themselves as fully capable of assessing the risks associated with adopting artificial intelligence (AI) across their organizations, and even fewer said they are fully capable of assessing the risks associated with robotic process automation (RPA) or blockchain (9% and 5%, respectively).

The report notes that the external risk environment is becoming increasingly complex, with risk teams realizing they must adapt their approaches to contend with new threats and the heightened pace of change.

For instance, nearly three-fourths (72%) of respondents said that complex, interconnected new risks are emerging more rapidly than ever before. At the same time, more than four in 10 respondents (42%) said that the risk function is, at best, only somewhat effective at responding rapidly to changes in the external risk environment.

“As the risk landscape continues to shift and evolve — with increasing complexity in protecting against data breaches and managing new, interconnected threats — risk managers aren’t able to evolve at the same pace as technology,” said Steve Culp, a senior managing director at Accenture who leads the company’s Finance & Risk practice. “Fortunately, risk managers acknowledge the need to adapt and embrace new tools and approaches, including broader sources of data, advanced analytics and AI, even against a backdrop of mounting cost pressures.”