Regulation's Influence on Risk Management and Management Control Systems in Banks

Abstract: This dissertation explores regulation’s influence on risk management and management control systems (MCS) in banks. The dissertation comprises of an introductory chapter, two published book chapters, one of which is an extensive literature review, and two working papers, presented at several European conferences. The overall objective of this dissertation is to explore how banks are responding to banking regulation in light of the 2007-08 financial crisis and what the implications of those responses are, particularly in relation to risk management and MCS, and their interactions. The overall research question is therefore: what influence does regulation have on risk management and management control systems in banks over time? The intended ambition is to contribute to existing knowledge on the relationship between bank regulation, risk management, and MCS by providing several practical and theoretical contributions. The dissertation employs an adapted theoretical framework and uses institutional theory and contingency theory to expose tensions between, the demands for uniformity residing in banking regulation, and the demands for uniqueness residing inside banks themselves as they seek to maintain control over the design and use of their organizational controls. The empirical material used in the longitudinal case study is gathered from a large European bank. The main findings of the dissertation are as follows. In Paper I, the findings show that banking regulation’s influence on risk management and management control is mixed, which in turn can influence risk management’s integration with MCS. The paper also finds that very little knowledge exists about regulation’s influence on risk management and MCS. In Paper II, the findings show that while regulatory influence in IT control has increased over time, banks continue to exercise significant influence over regulatory demands. In Paper III, the findings show how regulation’s influence varies considerably over time and that increased regulatory pressure can lead to a higher degree of integration between risk management and MCS across the three dimensions of integration. In Paper IV, the findings show how regulation’s influence is shaping the mental processes of management and employees, and can vary significantly based on several identified factors.