RISK MANAGEMENT -- WHY BOTHER? Operational Risk

Just the words RISK MANAGEMENT make many leaders in the consumer lending industry roll their eyes. Why? Traditionally risk management has been perceived as part of a volume prevention exercise and any effort to put resources against assessing and maintaining the right amount of risk is done so with the enthusiasm of having one?s teeth drilled.

Yet it can?t be avoided. Every day the business activities that are carried on create risk. We have always been aware of risks such as Credit, Market and Liquidly risks and have dealt with them as they appear. But we have been unable to bring them all together and understand how they impact the company?s success or distinguish how much profit we would have made without that risk. How then can company leaders understand and control risks on a company-wide basis? The answer to this question lies in the development and implementation of Operational Risk Management in your organization.

Operational Risk is defined as the risk of financial loss due to a failure of people, processes and/or technology as well as from external events. While many of the elements of an Operational Risk program, such as Quality Control, Regulatory Compliance, Management Self-Assessments and Business Continuity Planning, are already familiar to most leaders in the financial services industry, it is the through the unification of these various practices and the linking of them to the organizations? financial success that the real benefit is achieved.

There are three areas of an Operational Risk Management Program. These include Global risks such as catastrophic disasters; Product/Service risks which include poor quality product that cannot be sold or unhappy customers and; Ancillary risks such as personnel and financial management risk. All of these risks have the potential to increase costs and decrease profits. You can address these risks by first understanding what they are, where and when they occur and controlling them through the data your organization produces.

rjbWalzak Consulting can provide guidance in the identification and assessment of the Operational Risks within your company and help you develop management controls and the corresponding reports that indicate the level of operational risks. More importantly, we can guide you through the process of establishing relationships between these various risks so that future reports will provide you with real-time information on issues that face the organization. You will be able to proactively address these issues rather than react; you will be able to take advantage of opportunities quickly to get ahead of the competition and ultimately you will be able to TURN RISK INTO REWARD