Morgan Stanley Wealth Management has become one of the largest firms in the industry by serving a broad client base. "Our clients range from small, self-directed investors, who interact with us through our E*TRADE  channel, to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices who rely on our financial advisers for advice," says managing director Chris Scott-Hansen. "We are a leader in  institutional consulting through Graystone, and we have a workplace business that serves stock plans and their participants."

Every day, Morgan Stanley financial advisers are on the front lines providing the full range  of services, including investment advice and planning, banking, and lending. In the background, a risk organization provides governance. "They sit at the top and review down, to make sure policies, procedures, regulations, and laws are being adhered to," Scott-Hansen says. "Together with our financial advisers, they work to serve the best interests of our clients."

In the past, risk officers estimated risk by proxying securities to their respective asset classes and analyzing those classes' historical returns. "They had platforms and tools to measure risk in a lot of different ways," Scott-Hansen says. "But, like most of the industry, they used historical risk data to support decision-making. We wanted to better understand risk now—every day, on every investment decision that's made—and how each decision changes the risk in client portfolios dynamically." Additionally, the firm's legacy process gave financial advisers limited transparency to information around risk supervision and variances, so they were not always able to fully explain their risk projections to clients.