Survey identifies gap in risk manager definition

A survey by Marsh has revealed a discrepancy in the perception of who within an organization owns the risk-management execution.

Forty-seven percent of respondents identified as risk executives said the considered risk management-execution as their primary role. But just 16 percent of c-suite professionals agreed. Most of them (39 percent) said the CFO’s primary role is risk management execution.

According to survey results, CFOs did not agree. Among them, 22 percent said risk-management strategy was their first responsibility.

The c-suite identified seven different roles as owning the primary role of risk strategy.

Excellence in Risk Management XI — Risk Management and Organizational Alignment: A Strategic Focus

Additionally, organizational leadership appears to approve of how they are managing risk but seem unsure when asked if they were using risk-management functions to its fullest capabilities.

Here, 69 percent of c-suite respondents and 75 percent of risk professionals said they agreed or strongly agreed that their organization was managing risk effectively. However, 51 percent from the c-suite and 43 percent of risk professionals felt their organizations were using the function to its fullest.

Interesting to note, for the first time risk professionals identified cyber risk as their number one concern in 2014. Last year this risk did not crack the top 10 – and it still doesn’t among c-suite respondents.

C-suite pros chose legal or regulatory shifts as their No.1 concern.

Brand a reputational risk ranked higher for both risk and c-suite pros. Though it did not appear among their top 20 worries the last two years the risk was ranked fourth in 2014 by c-suite respondents. Risk pros ranked it third, up from sixth in 2013.