The adoption of enterprise risk management has flattened out at about 65% of businesses according to a joint report by Marsh and the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

The international report finds risk management budgets “have proven fairly resistant to large-scale changes resulting from the current global recession”.

But risk practitioners are being asked to operate more efficiently. That is likely to have a mixed effect on staffing levels with 14% of firms intending to enlarge risk management departments but 13% say they plan to cut employee numbers.

Of the 450 firms surveyed, some 67% plan to adopt a more strategic approach to risk management, a similar result to previous surveys.

Main barriers to change include an inability to demonstrate value and senior management concern over the difficulty and cost of implementation.