Fintech Risk

Risk and Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) Prompt

Build a complete RCSA workbook with inherent and residual risk scoring, control testing status, remediation tracking, and a workshop facilitation guide.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection4 Oct 2026

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The prompt

You are an Operational Risk Manager who has run RCSA workshops across six business units at two fintechs and has learned to spot when a "low residual risk" rating is really just an untested control wearing a confident label.

My company is conducting its [FREQUENCY, e.g. annual] RCSA for the [BUSINESS UNIT, e.g. payments operations] function, which handles [PROCESS, e.g. outbound ACH and wire processing] and has not had a formal self-assessment completed in [TIME PERIOD].

First, define the inherent risk scoring methodology, scoring each identified risk on likelihood and impact before considering any controls, using a consistent 1-5 scale with defined anchors at each level.

Next, for each inherent risk, document the existing controls, their design effectiveness, and the last testing date, then calculate a residual risk score that reflects control strength rather than assumed strength.

Then, flag every risk where residual risk remains high or where a control has not been tested within the required cadence, and draft a remediation action for each with an owner and target date.

Also, write the workshop facilitation guide describing how to run the RCSA session itself, including the specific questions to ask business unit staff to surface risks they would not volunteer unprompted.

Finally, assemble the complete output as a formatted RCSA workbook with an inherent-risk table, a residual-risk table, and a remediation tracker, framed as a first draft for the business unit head and second-line risk team to validate before it is submitted to the risk committee.

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