Leaders in the Hungarian financial sector are walking a tightrope in a constantly changing economic and geopolitical environment. On the one hand, they must focus on maintaining the resilience of their institutions; on the other, they must concentrate on continuously improving efficiency and fostering innovation. In this situation, the role of Chief Risk Officers (CROs) has become critical: it is no longer enough to focus solely on playing it safe; they must provide strategic guidance to ensure that organizations not only stay afloat but also continue to move forward amid these challenges. Our 2025 CRO Survey highlights how banks, asset managers, and insurers are addressing this dual challenge and what strategies they are employing to succeed.

Since 2012, KPMG has regularly published its survey on how risk management leaders in the financial sector view their current challenges and market trends. This year, nearly 30 CROs participated in the survey through questionnaires and in-person interviews.

The macroeconomic environment continues to be characterized by weak growth prospects, market volatility, geopolitical tensions, and sometimes unpredictable regulatory actions. While inflationary pressures and concerns about energy supply have eased compared to previous years, they have been replaced by new, more complex challenges. Digital transformation, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and the increase in cyber threats are constant items on the agenda for every sector. ESG compliance tasks and the growing risks of climate change are also shared burdens, but sectors address the resulting challenges in different ways and with different priorities.

The balancing techniques of the three sectors show marked differences:

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Banking sector	Asset management sector	Insurance sector
The banking sector has so far successfully maintained its stability despite several years of economic stagnation, thanks to prudent lending practices and forward-looking risk management tools such as the “management overlay,” In the future, bank CROs will focus on the accurate, data-driven measurement of risks , supporting strategic decisions , and making business operations more efficient. The sector is clearly prioritizing technological advancements and further improvements in data quality in order to address growing digital and cyber risk challenges.	The asset management sector operates under the dual pressure of regulatory scrutiny and increasing market risks stemming from the expansion of investment portfolios. Certain domestic regulations significantly limit asset managers’ strategic flexibility. Executives see opportunities for growth in improving operational efficiency, but they remain cautious about technology—particularly AI solutions—especially when it comes to investment decisions. For them, the biggest challenge is the gloomy growth outlook and the Hungary's country risk, which foreign investors are viewing with increasing skepticism.	The situation in the insurance sector is being complicated by a combination of domestic fiscal burdens (surtaxes) and new global risks that are difficult to model (climate change, cybercrime). While banks and fund managers prioritize technological developments, insurers focus on improving data quality and human capital, that is, employee training. Insurance CROs consider strengthening risk culture to be their most important value-creating activity. AI solutions are primarily intended to improve customer service and operational efficiency, as respondents do not yet see them playing a significant role in supporting risk management in the short term.

The survey clearly shows that risk management executives in the financial sector were uniformly critical in their assessment of the economic outlook, a sentiment reflected in a marked decline in risk appetite for certain products.

At the same time, a sharp divide is evident between sectors regarding technological adaptation and the adoption of innovative techniques. While banks and asset managers already view artificial intelligence as an increasingly important tool for risk management and sales support, insurers remain more cautious for now and tend to focus on improving the customer experience, which may be explained by the more limited availability of development resources. It is equally clear that cybercrime, risks arising from innovative technologies, and regulatory uncertainty are viewed as the greatest and growing threats of the future.

For financial sector leaders, the coming years may bring the most challenging phase of this tightrope walk. The key to success will be the extent to which CROs can become proactive, strategic partners within the organization, helping management strike a delicate balance between risk-taking, efficiency, and long-term resilience. In the financial sector, the existence of stable fundamentals is encouraging, but competitiveness and sustainability can only be ensured through continuous innovation and flexible adaptation.

Key Findings

The influence and strategic role of CROs vary by sector, but are clearly growing. In the banking sector, their influence has grown most in the areas of investment in new technologies and capital allocation, while at asset management firms, it has increased most in the realm of traditional business and strategic decisions. Stability is the hallmark of insurance companies, but their role in capital allocation and strategy also appears to be growing.

The focus of value creation has shifted: while strengthening risk culture was the top priority for banks in 2022, the accurate, data-driven measurement of risks has now come to the forefront. In contrast, at insurance companies, strengthening risk culture and participating in strategic decisions remain by far the most important value-creating activities in the CRO domain.

The survey reveals a marked strategic divergence in the use of development resources. While banks and fund managers clearly prioritize technological developments, insurers would allocate their available resources to training and retaining their professionals. In addition, improving the availability and quality of data needed for risk measurement plays a key role in all three sectors.

Prospects for access to necessary resources were viewed as moderately favorable in the banking and asset management sectors, and in nearly half of the responses, respondents even expect an increase in resources. Among insurers, however, the previous negative trend continued, and by 2025, only 13% of CROs are confident that development budgets will increase.

The sectors have clearly shifted toward more conservative product and customer strategies, and the appetite for risk has declined. The most striking change among banks is the drastic decline in support for SME lending (from 60% to 15%), parallel to the shrinking demand for credit among SME clients. At the same time, however, risk management support for lending to large corporations in a more stable position jumped from 40% to 85%. In addition, banks are increasingly relying on “post-model correction overlay” type provisioning—which goes beyond historical data—to manage new types of risks (geopolitical, inflationary, regulatory, and ICT).

Insurers consider liability and property insurance to be riskier than average, while fund managers, from a risk management perspective, primarily avoid leveraged and exotic regional funds.

The survey clearly shows that the greatest threats of the future are linked to technology. According to respondents, exposure to the risks posed by innovative technologies, cyberattacks, and financial crime will increase the most in the coming years. In addition to these, fund managers also list Hungarian country risk and regulatory risk among the growing threats.

The findings here reveal the sharpest contrast between sectors. While banks and asset managers—in addition to improving the customer experience and preventing fraud see AI solutions as a key tool for supporting risk management processes, insurers place the emphasis on customer service and the efficiency of operational processes, and do not foresee a significant role for artificial intelligence in supporting risk management in the near future.

CRO Survey 2025

Since 2012, KPMG has regularly published a survey on how risk managers in the financial sector view their current challenges and market trends. In 2025, nearly 30 CROs participated in the survey, in the form of questionnaires and personal interviews.

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