When Protiviti conducted a top risks survey among more than 1,000 executives and board members in the third quarter of 2019, few had imagined the risks they’d be facing today brought by COVID-19. More than half of the finance professionals who attended a webinar on creating an intelligent workplace said they never saw this type of disruption coming. Less than a quarter had a vague awareness of a possible event like this affecting their business, and only 5% considered it a top risk before it happened.

This article shares the top five 2020 financial services industry risks and describes what methods finance leaders need to weather the COVID-19 crisis and inoculate against stagnation.