Ernst & Young and Greenwich Associates recently conducted a survey of 44 asset management organizations regarding risk management at those firms. Survey participants included stand-alone asset management firms, banks with asset management divisions, and insurance companies with asset management divisions. The survey confirmed that the financial crisis of 2008 encouraged many firms to improve their risk management function, with more firms seeking input from risk managers on business decisions. The top five risks identified by survey participants are: market risk, regulatory/compliance risk, adapting to new regulations, strategy risk, and operational risk.
The survey also points to areas for improvement, with 30% of participants stating that the risk function has inadequate resources particularly with respect to technology and number of personnel. A significant majority of participants were also unable to report on changes to the budgets of the risk management group. Further, the study identified only three risk areas where reporting was more frequent than quarterly - operational risk, market risk, and liquidity risk.
The entire survey is available at http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/US_asset_management_risk_survey_2012/$File/AM_Risk_survey_MAY_2012.pdf.