
Managing Risk in Building Societies
This one-day conference had such a variety of sessions it was run across two sites with a packed agenda. The aim - to promote a risk conversation on key topics of today and tomorrow and understand how all roles now contain an element of risk management.
With sessions being run by experts from the Institute of Risk Management, the International Compliance Association and other big accounting firms, the conference gave professionals from across the industry the opportunity to network, exchange ideas and gain different perspectives. Over 300 delegates from 20 organisations took part.
Achieving a good risk culture
At lunchtime, Nationwide’s Risk Education Lead Snigdha Bircher moderated a lively panel discussion on risk culture in Building Societies. Chief Risk Officers Julia Dunne, Manjit Hayre and Richard Wells from Nationwide, West Brom and Yorkshire Building Societies respectively underlined the importance of a culture that appropriately considers risk in every team. That means individuals taking responsibility, transparency, and having a learning culture where feedback is encouraged and mistakes are learnt from.
Discussing the biggest blocker to creating the right risk culture Robin Frieth, CEO of the Building Societies Association thought it was ‘fear’. Nationwide’s CEO Joe Garner proposed that relying on the rule book rather than focusing on what is right to meet the member’s needs is not helpful in developing a healthy risk culture.
The panels’ belief in the importance of open lines of communication, the value of the discussion, and listening to diversity of thought, aligned squarely with Nationwide’s objective in running the Let’s Talk Risk event. The organisers were keen that people from diverse roles across Building Societies with an interest in risk would be freely able to attend the sessions pertinent to them and make good use of the networking time between each presentation.
Peers from audit, cyber security, AML, risk, fraud, and branch management heard expert views on a wide-range of topics and shared their experiences for the benefit of all.
Look out for news from Nationwide’s Risk Academy on future events.
Read less