A major takeaway from the Riskworld mega conference this month in Chicago was that risks are becoming more intertwined, which requires a total rethinking on how to manage them.

Here’s another one for CFOs to consider: Today’s risk landscape requires organizations to be proactive and nimble. That is, risk management should be embedded in company strategy, but leaders must recognize they’ll need to adjust their strategy quickly as risks evolve, experts told us.

“If you thought you knew the marketplace and your risk exposure a year ago, let’s totally re-evaluate it. It’s probably changed,” Tim DeSett, president of commercial property and casualty at insurance broker Hub International, told CFO Brew. “Even if we find out that the exposure itself is relatively the same, the financial objectives, the financial priorities for the company are probably different.”

DeSett said companies should revisit their risk plans regularly, either through their enterprise risk management (ERM) program if they have one, or a less formal, but still very serious and frank sit-down sesh.

For more on improving risk management, click here.—AZ

On Wednesday, Salesforce unveiled its first AI product for financial professionals, creatively called Agentforce for Financial Services. The AI is embedded in Salesforce’s Financial Services Cloud product, and so has access to a company’s internal numbers if it’s already using the platform.

According to the Salesforce announcement, Agentforce can act as a financial advisor, and also autonomously cancel or replace a credit card, explain insurance or loan options, or reverse a fee for banking customers.

“For financial services firms, what actions they’re willing to let happen in an autonomous way is where we’re on a journey as an industry,” VP and GM of Salesforce banking and lending Greg Jacobi told CFO Brew.

He said Salesforce’s software is different from a chatbot, but Glenn Hopper, head of AI research and design at Eventus Advisory Group, is skeptical.

“​​Everybody wants to call everything they do an agent,” he said of companies advertising their AI products.

Are finance pros ready for AI agents?—JK

As tariffs threaten to raise prices, a potentially existential question is facing retailers: How much inventory is too much or too little in such an uncertain environment—and is it worth squirreling away a little extra if higher costs are on the horizon?

Recent earnings reports from retailers and logistics companies show that some are choosing to stock up just to be safe. Apple and Amazon, for example, both said they’d made forward purchases of goods in the last quarter.

“We’ve done some forward buys of inventory where we’re the first-party seller,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said during its Q1 earnings call. “Our third-party sellers have pulled forward a number of items so that they have inventory here as well.”

Meanwhile, Prologis CFO Tim Arndt said the warehouse operator had spoken with 300 of its customers and found they were “accelerating shipments where possible,” and there was “urgent demand for overflow space.” Speaking with a prominent third-party logistics partner, the company also found that its utilization rate had jumped from 83% to over 90%.

Click here to keep reading Retail Brew’s story on how companies are balancing tariffs and inventory.—AV