Will COVID-19 change how financial services firms monitor emerging operational risk topics?
Manoj Kulwal
Chief Risk & AI Officer. Enabling operational risk management professionals to monitor and manage emerging operational risks (including AI risks), best practices, and loss events.
A key aspect of managing operational risk is to monitor emerging operational risk topics within the industry. This enables a firm to understand the evolving threats, risks and best practices. RiskSpotlight provides a web-based portal to enable operational risk practitioners to monitor emerging operational risk topics. Within the portal we had shared following pandemic related news articles before the COVID-19 crisis started.
- Report says deadly pandemic could sweep world in 36 hours - killing millions (26Oct2019) - Link
- The risk of a global pandemic is growing - and the world isn't ready, experts say (19Sep2019) - Link
- Flu-like pandemic can 'spread in just 36 hours and kill 80million', experts warn (18Sep2019) - Link
- World must prepare for inevitable flu pandemic, says WHO (8Apr2019) - Link
- WHO strategy to fight flu pandemics (11Mar2019) - Link
- Scientists make gene-edited chickens in bid to halt next pandemic (22Jan2019) - Link
- Pandemic exercise shows need for updates: report (3Dec2018) - Link
- 100 years on from the 1918 flu pandemic: what lessons can be learned? (9Oct2018) - Link
- Pandemic planning: Global Preparedness Monitoring Board convenes for the first time (12Sep2018) - Link
- Clade X' Simulation Reveals Pandemic Could Wipe Out 900 Million People (30Jul2018) - Link
We have 16 more pandemic related news articles in the portal going back to 2015.
These articles clearly highlight that all the early warnings signs/alarms were present in the public domain for those that were monitoring such a scenario. Firms that adequately monitored these topics, and implemented adequate risk treatments, will emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis than firms who were not even aware of these topics and/or didn't consider them important enough to implement appropriate risk treatments.
So will COVID-19 result in more firms pro-actively monitoring emerging operational risk topics for many other threats on the horizon? I hope it does because without pro-active monitoring firms will have significant blind spots in understanding of their risk exposures.
Register for a 2 month free trial of the RiskSpotlight Portal to monitor emerging operational risk topics including content on COVID-19 operational risks - Link