Many banks noted that awareness of operational risk at the board of director or senior management level has been increasing. The focus on operational risk management as a formal discipline has been recent but was seen by some banks as a means to heighten awareness of operational risk. The greater interest in operational risk was reflected in increased budgets for operational risk measurement, monitoring and control, as well as in the assignment of responsibility for measuring and monitoring operational risk to new or existing risk management units.

Overall the interview process uncovered a strong and consistent emphasis on the importance of management oversight and business line accountability for operational risk. Senior management commitment was deemed to be critical for successful corporate-wide risk management. Banks reported that high-level oversight of operational risk is performed by its board of directors, management committees or audit committee. In addition, most respondents referred to the important role of an internal monitor or "watchdog", such as a risk manager or risk committee, product review committee, or internal audit, and some banks identified several different internal watchdogs, who were all seen as important, such as the financial controller, the chief information officer and internal auditors. The assignment of formal responsibilities for operational risk measurement and monitoring is far from universal, with only about half of the banks interviewed having such a manager in place.

Virtually all banks agreed that the primary responsibility for management of operational risk is the business unit or, in some banks, product management. Under this view, business area managers are expected to ensure that appropriate operational risk control systems are in place. Many banks reinforce this risk attribution and responsibility through charging operational losses to the related business or product area. In an earlier survey of internal audit issues, some supervisors noted the trend to conduct more internal control reviews in the business line, rather than in independent units such as internal audit. Several respondents to the operational risk survey noted the creation of new controls or risk management in business lines to assist in the identification and control of risk.

Several banks noted one potential benefit of formalising an approach to operational risk. That is the possibility of developing incentives for business managers to adopt sound risk management practices through capital allocation charges, performance reviews or other mechanisms. Many banks are working toward some form of capital allocation as a business cost in order to create a risk pricing methodology as well.