There are many ways to assess risks in a bank. We have studied them all and found that, for community banks, looking at risk can be accomplished most effectively by using the prism effect. What is the “prism effect”? It’s simply taking one view and seeing risk in a four dimensional aspect: by subjects; by risk silos, by the COSO Integrated Framework; and, by risk inventories – all at once!

The Internet is chock full of risk management solutions and the community bank risk officer can become overwhelmed with the choices. The Risk officer asks, “Which product is right for my bank? Which tool is most cost effective? Do I have to be a risk expert to use the advanced features of a given product? How do I interpret the outcomes? Heck, how do I reach the outcomes? And what about the four dimensions of risk, how do I discern those?”

These and many other perplexing questions are quite real and in our faces daily as practitioners of the ART of ERM.

 Check out how Tracerisk approaches solving these problems!