Business

5 Best Practices for Operational Risk Management

Published

11 months ago

June 14, 2023

Managing risk prevents procedural failures from becoming tangible losses, like regulatory fines, penalties, and reputational loss. Operational risk management (ORM) protects your organization from potential threats and lessens the impact of an event, should one occur. This process involves detecting, analyzing, and mitigating risks, along with improving outcomes through better decisions.

Since risk is an inherent part of doing business, and human error is unavoidable, it’s necessary to have a strong operational risk management strategy.

Here are the 5 best practices for managing operational risk in your company.

Use risk management software

Workiva highlights how an operational risk management tool is the first thing you need to successfully manage risk. It can be extremely difficult to thoroughly assess and mitigate risk manually because there are far too many nuances and details to track. Plus, some tools provide automation to support your needs. The right tool will provide you with a plethora of financial reporting options, compliance integrations, and will connect your data from multiple sources to make your risk-based decisions more accurate.

These days, manual data management is nearly impossible. When it comes to key risk indicators (KRIs), you can’t afford to make mistakes. By using an operational risk management tool, you’ll reduce preventable oversights and mistakes, which will help you better manage risk.

Accept risk only when the benefits outweigh the potential cost

Unnecessary risks don’t provide significant value to a goal. It’s never a good idea to take on unnecessary risk because the cost can be devastating. Unfortunately, many people, especially entrepreneurs, have a personal bias that distorts judgment and limits critical analysis.

What makes a risk unnecessary? It’s not the level of the risk that determines whether it’s worth taking, but rather, the potential benefits. Your organization might be fine taking on high risk if the benefits will outweigh the cost, both financially and otherwise.

Regardless, all major risks should be cleared by senior management and stakeholders first.

Address risk at the appropriate level

Decisions will be made at every level across your organization, so make sure risk decisions are made by the right people. For instance, employees shouldn’t be making decisions that have the potential to seriously impact the company, and managers need to ensure their employees have a strong understanding regarding how much risk they can bear and when to escalate a situation to a higher-up.

Plan ahead for remediation

Part of operational risk management involves planning. The decision makers in your organization should be incorporating ORM into business processes, which requires time and resources. However, this should be part of every planning and execution phase.

Categorize and prioritize your risks

You’ll need to categorize and prioritize your risks to get a good idea of what actions you should take and decisions you should make. This is done with a control matrix in five basic steps:

Identify your risks before conducting your assessments
Measure risk probability
Assess the potential impact
Calculate total risk
Update your control matrix accordingly

Within your risk control matrix, you’ll be prioritizing risks from the following categories:

People risk. These are risks caused by people and human resources management. For example, hiring the wrong people, improper training, unmotivated team members, and high turnover rates often result in errors, fraud, and other ethical actions that can harm your organization.
Systems risk. When internal systems fail, losses can be devastating. This can include the loss of backups, downtime for networks, and other technical errors.
Process risk. When internal business processes are inadequate, your business can suffer. This includes things like product design flaws and failure to meet project deadlines or deliver projects to a client’s specifications.
External events risk. These risks are out of your control, like storms, floods, hurricanes, fires, and even manmade problems like robberies, terrorist attacks, and wars.
Legal compliance risk. When your business fails to comply with internal and external compliance regulations, the risks are great. These issues often involve tax and financial accounting regulations, internal ethical codes of conduct, and any other regulations imposed by a regulatory body governing your industry.

Operational risk management is critical for success

There are many ways to make a business successful, but if you don’t manage risk, one error or incident can tear down all your hard work. The best way to manage risk is to avoid it whenever possible. However, you can’t avoid all risk, and that’s where strategic risk management comes into play. Choose the risk you’re willing to accept, mitigate the potential consequences, and continue fine-tuning your decision-making process to respond better to similar risks in the future.

Business

Opportunities for Black Banx in Emerging Markets

Published

18 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Matthew Wiles

A significant digital transformation is underway in the world of finance, marked by the emergence of non-bank innovators offering a diverse array of financial technology products and services. This transformation is not confined to established markets; rather, it extends its reach into emerging economies, offering a compelling digital alternative to traditional banking institutions. These alternatives are particularly vital in addressing the issue of financial exclusion, which has left substantial populations underserved by traditional banking systems.

Among these innovative digital banking entities stands Black Banx, a fintech brand dedicated to fostering financial inclusion in emerging markets by seamlessly integrating banking services into digital ecosystems. Founded in 2014 as a visionary concept by German billionaire Michael Gastauer, Black Banx swiftly evolved into a global force in the global financial market Officially launched in 2015, the institution rapidly garnered international recognition, extending its services to 180 countries and territories from its inception. Within a mere 12 months of operation, Black Banx amassed over 1 million customers, marking its initial expansions in key regions such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. At present, with a customer base exceeding 40 million as of February 2024, Black Banx stands as one of the fastest-growing digital banks not only in developed countries but also in emerging markets.

What Are Emerging Markets?

An emerging market mostly describes the economic landscape of a developing nation progressively engaging with global markets during its growth trajectory. These economies possess some but not all of the defining characteristics of developed markets, which typically exhibit robust economic growth, high per capita income, well-established equity and debt markets, foreign investor accessibility, and a reliable regulatory framework, according to Investopedia.

As emerging market economies evolve, they tend to integrate more deeply into the global economy. This integration fosters increased liquidity within local debt and equity markets, heightened trade volume, and augmented foreign direct investment. Moreover, these economies witness the emergence of modern financial and regulatory institutions as they transition from low-income, less developed, often pre-industrial states to modern industrial economies with elevated standards of living.

With improving standards of living, the demand for financial security and opportunities escalates, underscoring the pivotal role of banking services. However, traditional banks face challenges stemming from bureaucratic processes and sometimes limited services. Conversely, fintech firms are gaining prominence owing to their convenience, user-friendly interfaces, and expedited signup procedures. Furthermore, their accessibility anytime and anywhere with internet connectivity enhances their appeal to the public.

Strong Demand for Financial Technology

The surge in digital banking adoption, particularly conspicuous in emerging markets, owes much to innovations originating in these regions. For instance, nearly nine out of ten consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, encompassing both emerging and developed markets, actively utilize digital banking services, with a significant portion expressing openness to expanding their usage through digital channels.

Enthusiastic adoption of fintech tools and e-wallets among consumers in emerging markets has propelled the market penetration of these innovative solutions beyond levels observed in developed markets. In the emerging Asia-Pacific region, the penetration of fintech apps and e-wallets surged to 54 percent in 2021, compared to 43 percent in the developed segment. This is indicative of the accelerating shift towards fintech transactions and services, as per McKinsey & Company.

A portmanteau of finance and technology, fintech refers to the burgeoning industry of companies utilizing computer programs and other technologies to provide support or enable banking and other financial services. In developed nations, there’s been a rapid expansion and adoption of fintech technologies ever since businesses and even governments started accepting digital financial transactions as a standard mode of payment. But even in emerging markets, the demand for fintech has also skyrocketed as more people report a diminishing reliance on cash for weekly expenditures.

Identifying Opportunities in Emerging Markets

Launching a successful digital bank entails navigating a myriad of challenges, irrespective of the market’s maturity. However, digital banking in emerging markets presents its own unique set of hurdles, particularly in securing widespread adoption among mass-market consumers. To thrive in any market landscape, a digital bank must first establish meaningful access to its target customers. While the initial interaction may appear straightforward in the digital realm, the reality proves more nuanced.

The proliferation of digital advertising notwithstanding, capturing customer attention remains a formidable task, compounded by the intricacies of onboarding procedures, even for digitally savvy clients. Moreover, the reliance on app downloads as a precursor to engagement further heightens the barriers to entry as first-time users may find them intimidating.

Building a solid trust relationship with customers is important for digital banks to maximize their opportunities in emerging markets. Trust, arguably the linchpin of sustained usage, demands meticulous investment in creating positive onboarding experiences and fostering comprehension of banking channels and products. However, achieving this trust quotient is not easy, especially in emerging markets with lower access to financial services and digital literacy.

Black Banx’s Success in Emerging Markets

Black Banx is a digital bank focused on empowering financial inclusion in emerging markets by integrating banking into digital ecosystems. It was founded by German billionaire Michael Gastauer who always believed that well-designed financial services have the potential to uplift even the most marginalized segments of society, providing them with enhanced economic opportunities.

Consequently, Black Banx is steadfast in its mission to promote financial inclusion while harnessing the advancements within the fintech landscape. Today’s digital technologies offer unprecedented tools to reconstruct banking paradigms, especially for those underserved by traditional financial institutions, with smartphones and laptops serving as gateways to financial empowerment. But while Black Banx makes use of the most advanced fintech technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence, it delivers an intuitive and easy-to-navigate user experience through its website and mobile app so even the inexperienced or less tech-savvy consumers won’t have a hard time using its platform to carry out financial transactions.

With his expertise and decades of experience in the financial industry, Gastauer has a keen eye for trends and what works in different markets. So instead of delivering different experiences for developed and emerging markets, the renowned fintech mogul opted to roll out the same suite of services to both because of his motivation to realize financial inclusion and offer only the best banking experience to all. As such, Black Banx facilitates seamless transitions between physical and digital currencies and even cryptocurrencies. The digital bank also tailors its channels to accommodate customers at various stages of their digital journey, ensuring that they feel guided every step of the way until they achieve their financial goals. All of these contribute to Black Banx’s success in emerging markets.