Interview with Serge Fehr: skills, leadership and adaptability at the heart of banking management.

September 1, 2025

In this interview, Serge Fehr shares his vision of skills development, leadership and managerial support in an ever-changing banking sector. He also discusses the importance of continuing education, the contribution of the ISFB Banking Management & Adaptability Certificate and the added value that ISFB represents for financial institutions and for Geneva as a financial center.

Serge Fehr, you are Head Swiss Domestic Region (Private Clients) at Lombard Odier Group. How important is skills development at your company?

At Lombard Odier, excellence is at the heart of our commitment to our clients, who are entrepreneurs and wealthy families. Our duty is to address every aspect influencing the client's overall wealth situation, with a holistic approach in line with the family's long-term objectives. This requires a perfect mastery of a wide range of areas of expertise, including taxation, pension planning and intergenerational inheritance. Private banking is not limited to asset management: it aims to offer our customers total peace of mind in all aspects of their wealth and financial planning. To achieve this, we surround ourselves with the very best experts, who must undergo ongoing training to keep pace with changes in Swiss laws and standards. This requirement for continuous skills development guarantees the relevance and durability of our advice. It reflects our responsibility as bankers: to be a trusted partner throughout the lives of our customers and their families, from generation to generation.

How would you describe your bank's managerial culture and vision of leadership?

Leadership is one of the fundamental pillars of our management culture. It is not simply an abstract concept, but a set of clearly defined principles actively cultivated at all levels of the organization. Indeed, between 2024 and 2025, several working groups were set up to identify the key leadership principles specific to our company. This collaborative approach has enabled a shared vision to emerge, based on our own values.
Although the qualities and skills associated with leadership can be numerous, we have deliberately limited the number of principles selected to ensure their systematic and consistent implementation. These principles are integrated into our talent development, managerial appraisal and ongoing training processes.
This approach to leadership fosters a managerial culture based on trust, transparency and commitment. It is essential to support the transformation of our industry, attract and retain the best talent, and meet the growing expectations of our customers.

What do you expect from your managers in terms of leadership, and how do you support them in developing their skills in this area?

I've been passionate about leadership for many years, and more specifically about positive leadership. It's a demanding posture, but essential: it directly influences the well-being, motivation and commitment of the people under our responsibility. I'm very attentive to this dimension, because it's not just about being appreciated - it's not a popularity contest.
In fact, leadership is a tightrope walker's role: you have to strike a balance between being demanding and benevolent, between listening and being courageous. It's complex, sometimes exhausting... but deeply gratifying when you see a team perform with a smile on its face, driven by a collective energy.
Once we had defined our leadership principles, we launched an ambitious program for all our managers. It goes beyond skills: it touches on the impact that each individual can have, day after day, on others.
What I expect of our leaders is simple: that they take on this role because they believe in it, not just because they occupy it. Being in charge means influencing lives, sometimes without realizing it. Leadership is, in my view, the essence of how the world we live in works - or doesn't work. Let's start by positively influencing our own.

A new edition of the ISFB Banking Management & Adaptability Certificate will start soon (October 2025). What major challenges do you see in this area, and how can this program offer concrete solutions?

This ISFB certificate seems to me to be a natural follow-up and complement to our own leadership program. It tackles key themes - such as resilience, managerial posture and stress management - which sometimes deserve a more in-depth look and a variety of approaches. The format is original and concrete, and invites you to think outside the box, which is invaluable in a role as demanding as that of manager.
This is a great opportunity for those who want to continue learning about this fascinating subject. Management is a living, constantly evolving discipline, and further training in this field should never be seen as an obligation, but as a voluntary process, driven by the conviction that we can always do better - for ourselves, for others, and for the organization.

As a long-standing member of the ISFB, what benefits do you see for a company like yours?

The ISFB represents real added value for our company and for the financial center. What it offers enriches our internal initiatives, by providing an external, structured and up-to-date perspective on key banking management issues. In a constantly changing environment - particularly in terms of regulations - this ability to adapt is essential. The possibility of designing tailor-made training courses is particularly attractive: it enables us to respond precisely to the specific needs of our teams, while nurturing a culture of continuous learning, essential for remaining relevant and agile.

Serge Fehr

Limited Partner and Head Swiss Domestic Region (Private Clients) at Lombard Odier Group

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