European financial institutions are worried about their approach to risk, but less than half have increased spending on risk management, and fewer still have high levels of confidence in their risk management processes, a survey reveals.

In the survey, conducted in March and April by London-based Marsh Ltd. and Ipsos, a Paris-based research group, 87% of the risk and insurance professionals at 121 financial institutions across Europe said they perceive risk management as more important than before the financial crisis. Only 47%, however, said their risk management budgets had increased.

Just 20% of the survey respondents reported having a high level of confidence in their risk management processes.

“The global financial crisis revealed a breakdown of certain risk management controls in financial institutions,” said Carrick Lambert, industry practice leader for the financial institutions practice in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Marsh, in a statement. “The results of our research demonstrate just how little confidence European financial institutions have in their current risk management procedures.”

A report, “New Risk Management Insights for Financial Institutions,” was produced based on the survey and is available at www.marsh.co.uk.