Global Risk Institute is a preeminent source of ideas on the management of emerging risks and trends for financial services organizations
15 May 2019 | Geopolitical
In the race to innovate, the geopolitical determinants of big data, AI and 5G are critical to the financial services industry. A financial services provider must first understand the political dimensions of emerging technologies before it can assess the associated enterprise risks, test its resiliency and design appropriate governance strategies.
1 May 2019 | Risk Management Practices
The Global Risk Institute, in partnership with the Conference Board of Canada and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, has conducted a benchmarking survey of enterprise risk management (ERM) practices across different industries. In the foreword, we highlight ERM practices in the financial services industry and discuss how they compare to other industries’ practices.
15 April 2019 | Climate Change and Environmental Risks
The climate is changing, but there is substantial uncertainty around the exact climate trajectory and as well as the economic consequences of climate change. As a result, investors around the world have a huge demand for hedging themselves against the realizations of climate risk.
1 April 2019 | Technology Innovations
From a financial institution’s perspective, AI offers a wide range of potential benefits, but one must ensure that the implementation of this technology is both prudent and ethical. To aid in the understanding of how this can be achieved, this report will introduce AI and detail issues of bias, interpretability, and data security and privacy as they relate to the ethical use of AI algorithms by financial institutions.
1 April 2019 | Geopolitical
For the Canadian financial services industry, the trade war presents complex and ambiguous risks. Punitive tariffs and general market uncertainty induce volatility, disrupt supply chains, and disincentivize new investment in the short-term. The dispute also creates a more protracted challenge in that it holds the potential to shape the future political relationship between the U.S. and China and thus the global economic system over the long-term
21 March 2019 | Technology Innovations
In this paper, we discuss Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), one of the most common and complex Machine Learning tools. After a non-technical introduction to ANNs, we examine the risks associated with the application of this algorithm to financial data.
14 March 2019 | Geopolitical
In 2019, some of the largest emerging economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America could undergo disruptive political changes, while populist and anti-establishment parties are set to expand their reach in the European Union. This article provides a preliminary assessment of the policy implications of these elections and the risks for global financial institutions.
19 February 2019 | Technology Innovations
Public-key cryptography, which underpins the security of most of the tools we rely on today including cloud computing, payment systems, the internet, and IoT, are all susceptible to being broken by quantum computers in the not-so-distant future.
4 February 2019 | Geopolitical
This “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) promises to link China to both neighbouring and distant regions along its southern and western frontiers through a mass infrastructure investment project, including roads, rail lines, ports, energy pipelines and digital networks. With a sum total of promised investments reaching $1 trillion (estimates vary), the BRI may be the most ambitious scheme of its kind ever attempted – 7 to 8 times larger than the $140 billion Marshall Plan that funded the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War – and could take decades to fully complete.
4 February 2019 | National Pension Hub
Pension plan sponsors are aware of one longevity risk in their plans – the risk that plan members live longer than assumed. There are steps that they have taken to mitigate this risk. Pension liabilities have been valued anticipating future increases in longevity, and some longevity exposure has been transferred to insurance companies through annuity purchases or pension “buy-ins”.
