UOB’s Chan Kok Seong on Risk Culture and Hybrid Work

The protracted COVID-19 pandemic is no longer just a disruption to the way we work but has transformed permanently the world of work, Chan Kok Seong, UOB’s group chief risk officer, says in an interview.

The future of work is shaping into a hybrid model that optimizes employee flexibility, autonomy and performance across locations. While much attention has been focused on enabling virtual teams through technology, it is important to balance the risks of remote working with productivity and agility.

A paper recently released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore identified two key categories of risks for financial institutions: operational risks and people and culture risks, which all companies across sectors should note as they digitalize their businesses.

How might companies better manage these emerging risks as they grapple with the embrace of remote working in the digital age

Organizations will need to confront the technological, operational, legal and compliance risks which arise from a hybrid work model. A change in an organization’s control environment – such as when the majority of its employees perform their roles remotely – can introduce additional information security threat factors.

For example, virtual workplaces include can be at risk of increased cyberattacks on an external network, potential leakage or misuse of confidential information, identity theft and employees circumventing work processes and controls against compliance guidelines.

In a virtual work setting, enabling employees’ remote access to internal systems is a requisite. Companies must find a balanced and measured approach to cybersecurity safeguards that works for their operations and which do not compromise their risk controls or business productivity and agility.