Risk Culture

Dutch regulators are raising the bar when it comes to risk culture. This peer-to-peer training helps you understand what’s really going on beneath the formal governance layer: which shared assumptions and behavioral patterns determine how risks within your organization are recognized, discussed, and escalated, or not. Using the Risk Culture Diagnostic Framework, led by Mirea Raaijmakers.

Dutch financial institutions operate in a supervisory climate that keeps raising the bar. Not only for well-thought-out formal structures, but also for what lives beneath the surface: risk culture. Historically, poor risk culture has proven to be an early warning signal for bigger problems, from the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis to later issues at individual banks.

Since that crisis, risk culture has structurally been on the agenda of DNB and the ECB. In its draft guide on governance and risk culture, the ECB expects the management bodies of financial institutions to actively promote and safeguard a sound risk culture at every level of the organization. And to ensure that culture is structurally monitored, measured, and adjusted.

DNB has treated behavior and culture as a supervisory priority since 2011. With its Leading by Example report (2013), DNB conducted early research into boardroom behavior at thirty financial institutions. Today, DNB expects management to take full ownership of risk culture, including the risk appetite statement and framework. Those who fall short can expect increased supervision or sanctions.

The daily challenge lies in the dynamic between formal governance (the reality on paper) and the culture that is actually lived (what really happens when no one is watching). It requires leaders who set the right example, employees who feel safe to raise concerns, and an organization equipped with mechanisms to make culture both measurable and actionable.

This peer-to-peer training doesn’t focus on the formal side (governance) but on the informal side that is sometimes overlooked: which shared assumptions, norms, and behavioral patterns determine how risks are collectively recognized, discussed, and escalated, or not? And how do you, as a manager or risk or compliance professional, give shape to the ownership that the regulator expects? Led by Mirea Raaijmakers, an expert who brings together her experience in supervision (DNB), banking practice (including ING, reporting to the CRO), and academia.

Target audience

This training is intended for managers and risk and compliance professionals working at banks, insurers, or other financial institutions. You don’t need to be a culture expert. You do bring your own cases, dilemmas, or practical experience. It’s precisely the exchange between these that makes this peer-to-peer training valuable.

Programma

Risk Culture Diagnostic Framework — We start with an introduction to the Risk Culture Diagnostic Framework. This is a diagnostic tool applied within the financial sector, derived from academic research into the gap between formal and informal norms within organizations.

Peer-to-peer discussions — Discuss risk issues that participants bring themselves with peers from other financial institutions. You use the Diagnostic Framework to analyze what’s really going on, beyond the numbers. Mirea introduces a case to structure the discussion and take it deeper.

From diagnosis to first step — You explore which types of interventions fit the cultural patterns you’ve diagnosed and formulate one concrete action you can implement in your own organization within a few weeks.

Leerdoelen

You learn how risk culture functions as the “software” of governance, and why formal structures alone aren’t enough.
You get to know the Risk Culture Diagnostic Framework and see how you can use it to map the cultural patterns that drive behavior and decision-making.
You learn to recognize signals of a weak risk culture more quickly in your own organization, including the red flags the ECB and DNB explicitly name in their publications.
You become familiar with the key intervention directions in risk decision-making, risk escalation, risk communication, and risk learning, and know which first step fits the patterns you recognize in your own organization.

Trainer

Mirea Raaijmakers

Mirea is an expert at the intersection of strategy, governance, and organizational transformation. Her career spans senior leadership roles in both supervisory and international corporate environments. As Global Head of Behavioral Risk Management at ING and a member of the Global Risk Management Team, she contributed to organization-wide governance, strategy, and risk culture during a period of intensive regulatory scrutiny and far-reaching institutional change. Before that, she played a key role at De Nederlandsche Bank in reforming post-crisis supervision. She helped structurally integrate governance and behavioral dimensions into supervisory practice, positioning the Netherlands at the forefront of governance innovation.

Aanmelden

Want to learn the tools that help you make risk culture measurable and actionable, guided by an expert? Then sign up for this Risk Culture peer-to-peer learning, an interactive training with peers where knowledge-sharing and practice take center stage.

Participation costs €499 (excl. VAT) per person. Group size is limited for an intimate and effective learning experience. You can register via the form on the right.

📩 Want to use your personal training budget? Registration may also be possible via your employer’s learning portal.