Fundamentals of the Management and Mitigation of Operational Risk in banks

Aims

This is an intensive course on Operational Risk Management & Mitigation – from assessing the operational risks to how to implementing a working, viable operational risk management program. Aimed at the financial services industry this course explores the Operational Risk management function and mitigation requirements as mandated in the Basel Accords.

A key objective of this course is to move the participants beyond the operational risk compliance requirements set down in the Basel Accords to an understanding of managing operational risk as a value added proposition that can be instrumental in increasing the profitability of the bank while at the same time improving its structural strength.

Now the ongoing continuum of headline-grabbing operational risk incidents at banks, other financial institutions and even regulators continue to keep the issue of operational risk management at the top of agendas of CEO’s , CRO’s, Risk Managers and Internal & External Auditors alike.

These incidents are wide ranging and flow from issues like bank ATM collapses, bank operating system failures, regulatory settlements (fines) in the ongoing US sub-prime mortgage saga, rogue traders and the related risk managers who either missed or were willfully blind to all the warning signs.

As the size and complexity of financial institutions has increased, so too have the challenges of understanding and reducing operational risks down to truly manageable levels. Increased regulatory concern and scrutiny have also increased the cost of operational risk events in the shape of outright financial loss, regulatory fines and declining customer confidence.

Operational Risk Management (ORM) is an effective tool for not only maintaining but increasing, bank profits, shareholder value, public perceptions and goodwill.

Executed properly, improvements in ORM can lead to substantial financial, reputational and regulatory benefits – all this adds up to increased profitability, greater financial stability and improved customer satisfaction – in short, a better safer bank/ financial institution.

But, to achieve these gains, financial institutions must apply a consistent and comprehensive approach to managing their operational risks. They must also understand that this approach is fundamentally different from the approaches that they use in managing market, credit and liquidity risks.

“Bad" Operational Risk Management has a severely negative effect on financial institutions in four very clear ways;

1. Actual operational risk losses are a direct hit to the income statement. Equally the massive fines being paid have the same effect.
2. The market punishes companies, via the stock price, for operational risk failures. This loss of value could well exceed the actual financial loss experience by the risk event in the first place.
3. Lowered Credit Ratings, which raises the institutions cost of borrowing money in the marketplace.
4. Operational risk failures can vastly increase the cost of compliance by raising the level of regulatory scrutiny and complexity not to mention substantial penalties.

All too often banks have seen the need to effectively manage their operational risks as simply an issue of complying with what the bank regulator requires, in this case the operational risk requirements of the Basel Accords, rather than a disciplined process in its own right, that serves to not only ensure a banks survival but which can, in the long run, contribute to that bank’s financial fortune.

Implementing an effective Operational Risk Management routine (“Good” Operational Risk Management) is a complex process. At its core is an understanding of what Operational Risk is and how it can be managed.

This course is an intensive introduction to Operational Risk Management and Mitigation. It is designed to provide a practical “hands-on” approach to participants which will furnish them with all the tools and techniques they need to begin implementing what they have learned almost as soon as they return to the office.

The underlying course philosophy is to move the participants beyond the largely theoretical international compliance requirements for operational risk (specifically those contained in the Basel Accords), and into an understanding of the practice of operational risk management and an ability to actually implement these procedures.

Objectives

The objectives of this training course is to provide all staff, irrespective of whether they work in the front-, middle- or back-office, with a sound foundation in the theory and practice of Operational Risk Management. This training is provided in a practical “hands-on” manner that allows them to implement what they have learned easily and effectively the minute they return to the office.

What this course covers

This course provides a complete structured package for learning in all main aspects of the subject of managing Operational Risk under the Basel Accords. It will enable participants to prepare and manage the planning and implementation of operational risk management processes in their bank/ financial institution or firm.