what do i stand to lose? General speaking, the exposure is the maximum amount of damage that will be suffered if some event occurs. All other things being equal, the risk associated with that event will increase as the exposure increases. For example, a lender is exposed to the risk that a borrower will default. The more it lends to that borrower, the more exposed it is and the riskier its position with respect to that borrower. Exposed measurement is a hard science for some kinds of exposures--typically those that result in direct financial loss such as credit and market risk--but may be much more qualitative for other, such as reputational risk.