How does hotline and incident management stack up in the financial services industry? An analysis of comparative metrics

An efficient and trusted mechanism by which employees can anonymously or confidentially report allegations of suspected or actual misconduct is the hallmark of a well-designed compliance programme. Yet, every industry will have different metrics related to their reporting processes and systems. There is not a ‘right’ answer because all metrics will be influenced by the risk areas facing each industry. The finance sector is no exception. So, what does the data show for the finance sector and how can the data be used to impact programme effectiveness? To answer this question, in 2023, NAVEX®, a provider of governance, risk and compliance information system software and services, examined financial-industry specifics within a large global data set of anonymised hotline and incident management metrics. This research, published here for the first time, follows the release of NAVEX's 2023 ‘Hotline & Incident Management Benchmark Report’ — an annual, publicly available analysis of hotline reporting data generated through the intake channels NAVEX provides to its customers. This research publication, published in March, involved a total of 1.52 million reports worldwide. Financial services was the third-most represented sector across the larger benchmark report. Comparing financial services to global benchmarks, it appears the industry is outperforming other sectors in several key incident management metrics. Yet for individual financial firms, the industry-specific benchmark data revealed in this analysis could provide a more refined look into the ways organisations can compare their programmes to their industry peers. Overall, the financial services industry received more reports per 100 employees, fewer anonymous reports, and were consistently closing cases even with a different mix of issue types, ie more business-related issues than other industries.