Peer to Peer Magazine

44 who was responsible for risk management. Last year, 29% of respondents answered they did not know who the responsible party was. The chief bearer of risk responsibility was the General Counsel, which accounted for one-third (33%) of answers. Aside from the decrease in the "Don't Know" category, this change was the largest shift, rising from 19% of responses last year. Of note, the 2018 result brings this job category back to historical norms in the 30% range. For now, the 2017 result appears to be an anomaly. Last year, two new categories were added to this question: "Governance Committee" and "IT Director." The added specificity captured 6% and 16% of the responses, respectively. The 2018 survey results stayed steady with 5% choosing "Governance Committee" and 16% choosing "IT Director" as the person most responsible for risk management. Top Risk Management Challenges Perhaps reflecting the quickening pace and attendant pressures in technolo, the "Pace of Technolo" doubled in the number of respondents citing it as the single biggest risk facing their firms over the next 12 months (from 7% to 14%). But while showing the biggest growth, "Cyber Threats" still had the largest response rate as 50% cited the category as the biggest threat, and 24% surveyed specifically called out "Malware, Ransomware and Viruses." Then too, technolo does not run itself, 26% cited "Negligence/Human Error" as the biggest threat their firm faces. How capable are firms at addressing risk? After two straight years of declines, respondents are feeling more confident in their firm's abilities to tackle risk. "Capable" responses to the question rose 10 percentage points to 87%, nearly as good as the initial survey's result back in 2015. On the other side of the coin, "We have work to do" dropped 30%. Perhaps the investment in capabilities and risk management over the past few years is paying off in better preparedness. For the first time, respondents citing that their firm has "Minimal" capabilities to address and mitigate risk garnered no responses. It remains to be seen if this stronger confidence continues its trend next year. Increased investment in risk management This year's survey showed that 59% of respondents' firms will be "making additional budget available for risk management initiatives," which was unchanged from last year. There were two camps for those firms not increasing their investment in risk management. One group feels that they have "made all the investment we need at the current time" (28%). This group has grown from 22% in 2017. On the other hand, one group feels the "need to increase investment but is unable to invest due to budget constraints." Fortunately, this group has decreased in size. In the last survey one- fifth of the respondents were constrained After two straight years of declines, respondents are feeling more confident in their firm's abilities to tackle risk. J O B T I T L E 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 General Counsel 29% 38% 19% 33% CIO/CTO 38% 21% 14% 17% Head of Risk/Compliance 27% 17% 16% 21% Other 5% 24% N/A N/A Don't know N/A 11% 29% 9% Governance Committee* N/A N/A 6% 5% IT Director* N/A N/A 16% 16% W H O B E A R S T H E O V E R A L L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y F O R Y O U R F I R M ' S R I S K M A N A G E M E N T F U N C T I O N ? * R E S P O N S E O P T I O N S N E W I N 2 0 1 7 , N O T A V A I L A B L E ( N / A ) I N 2 0 1 5 O R 2 0 1 6 .

• Cover