Financial firms struggling to assess risks of disruptive technologies: Accenture report

An overwhelming majority of financial firms' risk managers don't believe they can adequately assess the risks of disruptive technologies but are open to new strategies and tools to better manage emerging threats, according to a new report by Accenture. The report, 'Accenture 2019 Global Risk Management Study', is based on a survey of nearly 700 risk management executives in the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors globally. The survey found that only 11 percent of risk managers describe themselves as fully capable of assessing the risks associated with adopting artificial intelligence (AI) across their organizations, and even fewer said they are fully capable of assessing the risks associated with robotic process automation (RPA) or blockchain (9 percent and 5 percent, respectively). The report notes that the external risk environment is becoming increasingly complex, with risk teams realizing they must adapt their approaches to contend with new threats and the heightened pace of change. For instance, nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of respondents said that complex, interconnected new risks are emerging more rapidly than ever before.