BANKS NEED BETTER NARRATIVE RISK DISCLOSURES

摘要

Risk reports produced by eight UK banks in the years before the run-up to the financial crisis were not lucid enough for any but the most determined users to detect the risk narrative that they contained. According to an independent study of UK bank risk disclosures, carried out by Philip Linsley of York University and funded by ICAEW's charitable trusts, a risk narrative was identifiable for each of the sample banks but it was hidden and substantial effort was required to piece together the overall picture. There was no evidence, however, of deliberate intent on the part of the banks to make the risk narrative inaccessible.