Risk management is still not delivering the value that it should, despite a wave of regulatory reforms such as Basel II and Sarbanes Oxley, a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit has found.

The firm questioned more than 400 financial services executives and found that despite considerable investment, risk managers are not very confident that ongoing efforts are very effective in adding value to the business.

Only 50% of the risk managers in the survey sample believed the function contributed substantially more value than it did three years ago.

Richard Smith, partner at PwC said: ‘Senior executives concerned with bottom line performance and brand value are acutely aware of the damage that can be done, or opportunity lost, if risk is not managed properly. But our study suggests that it is still under-valued in many ways.’

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