8NOVEMBER 2025OPINIONIN MYThe risk landscape for the Financial Services Industry has changed dramatically since the bank failures in March 2023. Watching what happened at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank was unfortunate, to say the least, but most disturbing was the speed at which these banks collapsed. Many articles have been written on what went wrong behind the scenes and pointed fingers at many different parties, internally and externally. But in the end, for SVB, it was the tweets & posts by large uninsured depositors pulling their money which fueled a run on the bank. And that, in turn, triggered a bank run at Signature Bank as well. The power of social media has always been a risk for any company; it can do as much good as bad in a nanosecond. However, the above series of events made social media attacks real for the Finance Industry, highlighting the emergence of this risk on the same level of cyber-attacks, each potentially inflicting irreversible reputational damage. And there are more risks currently challenging the industry. New emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), while presenting great potential, come with significant risk if not used responsibly. And based on the current market environment standard risks, like liquidity and credit, have been elevated. As most mid-size banks compete to remain RECENT CHALLENGES IN THE INDUSTRY AND HOW INTERNAL AUDIT CAN HELPBy Jacqueline Breslauer, Executive Vice President - Chief Audit Executive, Valley BankJacqueline Breslauer
< Page 7 | Page 9 >