High Severity Information Technology Risks in Finance

Financial institutions are part of the backbone of modern nations in the same way electrical power grids and transportation infrastructures are. Therefore, breakdowns of single banks or whole financial centers could have a massive impact not only on the affected banks but also on the entire economy (systemic risk). As financial institutions rely heavily on information technology (IT), this is one of their major risk categories. Despite its importance, the research on identifying and mitigating the operational risks associated with IT is still quite immature in theory and in practice, leaving managers without sound decision support. Based on an overview of relevant threats and their possible impacts, this paper derives requirements for a sound decision support system supporting operational risk management in IT.