Reputation has always been considered a key asset for a financial institution. Traditionally, the management of a bank's reputation was assigned to the communications department. However, there is a growing consensus that the management of reputational risk should be integrated into overall risk management structures.

This trend is being nourished by a deeper understanding of the financial dimension of reputational risk events, as well as by new regulatory requirements, such as the new international capital framework Basel II.

As a rather new risk category, often considered to have peculiar characteristics, in most banks reputational risk is not fully covered by traditional risk management. There is a need to extend existing risk frameworks, to define processes for reputational risk identification and assessment, and to integrate those processes into day-to-day business activities. Last, but not least, Basel II expects the banking industry to develop techniques for managing reputational risks. The establishment of common reputational risk management techniques requires dialog between risk management practitioners. The Forum on Reputational Risk Management is intended to provide the platform for this dialog.