Information Technology Risk Management Of Commercial Bank In China

The Construction of Chinese bank information begins in the 1980s, Chinese commercial banks have basically realized the data centralization project, established the modern banking system including a new generation of core application systems and electronic banking. This greatly reduces the operating cost of banks and improves the operational efficiency of banks, effectively supporting the booming development of modern banking. Now commercial banks have already developed into financial supermarkets for social services, information services, economic forecasting and decision making from financial institutions just for savings deposits, loans and remittance business; the primary sources of income for the bank have changed to information providing and financial service, not from spreads between deposits and loans; commercial banks have turned to the provision service and management of information from the simple monetary management. Clearly, information technology has become the key factor for commercial banks to enhance market competitiveness, banking innovation and the level of client service.With the development of bank information, commercial banks use computer information systems to collect, process and handle almost all of the banking business. Because the development of banking increasingly dependents on information technology and information technology risk has the characteristics of unpredictability and concealment, the loss events of bank information technology risk often occurs. In recent years these information technology risk events show that bank information technology risks have posed a threat to the normal operation for banks and caused a serious negative impact on financial markets, tremendously effecting the daily life in modern societies. However, compared to first class bank of the word, the majority of our commercial banks is still in the initial stage of information technology risk management, facing enormous challenges on management concepts, business operations, technology platform and human resources, etc.Therefore, how to effectively manage risk generated in the process of commercial bank information and make modern information technology to better serve for the banking industry have become the significant topic for financial institutions and bank regulators.In this paper, firstly there is a definition of information technology risk and introduce the six characteristics of IT risk. Then specifically analyse the causes of these IT risks, which will be divided into operational risk, legal risk, outsourcing risk and reputation risk. So it's essential that our commercial banks should strengthen IT risk management. Secondly, based on the current situation of IT risk management, choose some main representative banks such as China Everbright Bank, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Then it's pointed out that currently our commercial banks face the main problems such as IT source behind the scale of development, disaster recovery mechanism imperfect, weakness of the prevention awareness of IT risk, the highlighted IT outsourcing risk and lack of informationization inter-disciplinary talent, etc. Thirdly, this article also introduces deeply laws and regulations and measures of overseas banks on financial supervision about IT risk, and shows these experiences and enlightenment of overseas banks on IT risk management. Finally, both our commercial banks and bank regulators should build a complete IT risk management system such as proposals and measures to enable ourselves take the primary responsibility of IT risk management. And ensure that banking business operates safely and stably as soon as possible, making IT truly become the mainstay of stable operation and high-speed development of commercial banks; ensure that bank regulatory authorities pay more attention to supervise information technology risk, draw up appropriate laws and regulations, establish a rating system for information technology and further speed up financial supervision information system. So that our commercial banks can improve the level of information technology risk management and enhance the core competitiveness of banks.In a word, information technology risk management of commercial banks is very important and urgent problem in the process of bank information and in the development of banks. It requires coordination of banking business sector and information technology sector of commercial banks, and also needs attention and supervision from bank regulatory. Only like this can it create a secure financial IT platform to facilitate he healthy and rapid development of banking business.