Risk culture in Australian banks: Does size matter?

Previous research has shown that the best risk outcomes are achieved when effective risk structures are combined with a favourable risk culture. We examine risk culture and staff perceptions of risk structures in five Australian banks using survey methods to investigate the influence of bank size. We find that size brings both advantages and disadvantages. The risk structures of large banks are perceived more favourably than those of small banks except for remuneration where the reverse is true. While all of the Australian banks assessed have a favourable risk culture, the large banks do better in two of the four dimensions of risk culture (proactive and manager) while small banks do better in another dimension (avoidance).