Risk management is sub-par and accountability "diluted", Lindsay Maxsted, chair of Westpac said yesterday.In a letter to shareholders, Maxsted touched on themes in the bank's self-assessment in relation to culture, governance and accountability demanded by APRA of 36 of the country's largest banks, insurers and superannuation licensees in response to the Prudential Inquiry into Commonwealth Bank.Presumably supplied to APRA by the deadline late last year, this is the first time Westpac has touched upon the conclusions, and they are embarrassing for the bank.Maxsted said Westpac's "self-assessment highlighted that while our culture, governance and accountability settings in their totality generally support the sound management of non-financial risks, our approach is less mature than our approach to managing financial risks."There is also, he said, "an analytical and consultative culture that can slow down decision making, create complexity and dilute accountability."So far NAB is the only bank to make this self-assessment public and it's clear Westpac needs to do so too.An APRA appraisal of these self-assessments released last month said that while accountabilities were fairly clearly set out at senior levels, there was less clarity at lower levels."For some institutions, the issues identified in the self-assessment are material and the changes required to address them are significant," the APRA report said.APRA also warned it was considering applying additional capital requirements to some institutions.How close to this danger zone is Westpac or any other bank? Stakeholders need to see the report to self-assess this for themselves.