Risk culture is a set of norms, attitudes, and behaviors related to awareness management and control of risk in a bank. It shapes management's and employees' day-to-day decisions and has an impact on the risks they take. Weaknesses in risk culture often leads to people within the bank making poor decisions or exhibiting poor risk management behaviors.

While organizational culture is complex and nebulous, the core drivers of a strong risk culture is that risk management is valued, risk issues are addressed quickly, and that the leadership of the bank, whether it be line manager or senior executives, act as role models.

Christian Bittar was once amongst Deutsche Bank's highest paid traders, but became one of the highest profile traders to be convicted in the global rate rigging probe. Deutsche Bank was fined a huge U.S. $2.5 billion by global regulators in 2015 for failing to prevent attempts to rig benchmark rates. Bittar featured prominently in the penalty notices. Other banks were also fined. The Libor Scandal is a serious example of people risk.