ISFB Insight
Managing a Bank: Understanding It to Oversee It Better
July 8, 2026
Since the Credit Suisse crisis, there has been renewed focus on bank governance: the roles of governing bodies, risk management, and oversight. For a board of directors, these expectations directly impact its ability to understand, ask questions, and make decisions. This ability cannot be improvised; it must be developed and maintained.
The Credit Suisse crisis served as a reminder that a bank’s stability depends not only on its financial figures, but also on the quality of its governing bodies. Since then, there has been increased focus on banking governance, and with it, heightened expectations for those serving as directors.
Our role, as a professional association, is, among other things, to provide training. And we do so in accordance with our associative model: by drawing on industry experts—serving board members, risk specialists—because our associative structure allows us to do just that: bring together and share the perspectives of members and stakeholders in the ecosystem. This is because current expectations directly raise the question of the role of board members in banks. What must a board understand in order to exercise its oversight responsibilities? To what extent should it delve into risk matters without usurping management’s role? What collective expertise is needed to interpret financial, operational, regulatory, technological, and prudential signals?
We have dedicated a series of interviews to the instructors of the ISFB Certificate in Governance and Risk Management for Board Members, directed by Jean-Philippe Bernard. Their perspectives, brought together here, outline the contours of a key competency: that of the role.
Understanding to Monitor
Jean-Philippe Bernard directs the program and leads the module on risk management in the banking sector. He sets the stage: a board member must be able to understand risks, take a stance, assess the appropriateness of the approaches proposed by management, and translate them into strategic initiatives.
This formulation ties into a classic issue in economics. Agency theory describes the tension that arises when those who manage the company on a day-to-day basis are not the same people who exercise ultimate oversight (Jensen & Meckling, 1976). In a bank, this tension takes on a very concrete form: the board relies on information produced by the very organization it is supposed to oversee. Its role is therefore to reduce blind spots, clarify responsibilities, and equip itself to make decisions at the appropriate level.
Hervé Broch, an ISFB lecturer and ACAD representative for this certificate program—who is himself the director of a financial institution and chairman of the board of directors in the sports sector—leads the module on board governance. His insights bring the role back to its core: before considering risks, a director must understand their primary mission—ensuring the bank’s long-term viability. The board sets the strategic direction, oversees governance, supports management, and maintains the necessary distance. For him, value comes from the quality of judgment, the questions asked, and independence (read the interview).
A Unique Stance
Jean-Christophe Pernollet, a lecturer at ISFB and himself vice president of a board of directors in the banking sector, leads the module on banking governance. He highlights the unique nature of the sector: banking is one of the most heavily regulated industries, and in Switzerland, the separation between oversight and operational management is particularly pronounced in the banking sector. This separation requires a specific approach: understanding, questioning, and deciding—without stepping into the role of the executive (read the interview).
His second point concerns the board’s collective expertise. While experts must be present at the table, each director must understand the key issues in order to contribute to strategy and risk management. He emphasizes critical thinking, questioning areas presented as solid, and ongoing training.
Jean-Philippe Bernard then turns his attention to the heart of banking risk. Setting risk appetite means deciding how much uncertainty the institution is willing to accept in order to achieve its objectives. The board doesn’t just receive metrics—it must understand what they measure, what they might be hiding, and what they reveal about the bank’s trajectory. In the article published by Allnews at the launch of this series, he reminds us that boards of directors—who are ultimately responsible—must assess risks with sufficient understanding to make decisions and exercise oversight (read the article).
Understand the mechanisms, not just the ratios
Julien Pelegry, an ISFB lecturer and Head of Financial Risk at a local bank, leads the module on non-credit financial risks. His presentation brings the discussion back to balance sheet mechanisms: liquidity, interest rates, market risk, capital, and stress tests (read the interview). These topics often come before the board in the form of ratios. However, a ratio never speaks for itself. It reflects assumptions, choices, and mechanisms that the board must be able to scrutinize.
Nicolas Dervaux, Head of Risk in the Banking Sector and Lecturer at ISFB, leads the module on credit risk, operational risk, and resilience. He broadens the perspective: risk flows between credit, operations, liquidity, profitability, capital, internal practices, and resilience. He describes governance as a cycle: the board sets the risk appetite, management implements it, and then reports on the materiality of risks (read the interview).
The theory of resource dependence helps explain this requirement. A consultant provides a company with expertise, experience, analytical skills, a network, and an outside perspective (Hillman, Cannella & Paetzold, 2000). In a bank, this resource must remain dynamic. It evolves in step with changes in risks, business models, regulatory requirements, and technologies.
The module on cyber risks and the introduction of artificial intelligence is part of this ongoing effort. The program links it to the internal control system: technological risk therefore also falls under the purview of high-level oversight, data management, outsourcing, resilience, and decision-making quality.
Prudential Oversight and Market Responsibility
Nezam Alexandre Bayat, a specialist in prudential enforcement procedures, is a speaker in the module dedicated to the oversight of internal control and risk management systems. His presentation provides an overview of prudential expectations in a strictly educational context (read the interview).
Pranvera Këllezi, a lawyer in Geneva and a member of the Federal Competition Commission (COMCO), serves on the board of the Swiss Women’s Board of Directors Association, where she chairs the Governance & Legal Committee. Her contributions give this discussion its broader context: the financial sector manages other people’s money. This responsibility toward depositors, savers, and investors requires the ongoing professionalization of boards and a solid understanding of the personal responsibilities associated with the mandate (read the interview).
Stakeholder theory sheds light on this point. Any institution is accountable to a broader group than just its shareholders: notably, customers, employees, regulators, and counterparties (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Banking stability is therefore not limited to capital or liquidity. It also depends on clear lines of responsibility, robust risk management, and the quality of oversight exercised by management.
A role that can be learned
Taken together, these remarks point to a single requirement. Being a bank director today means accepting a special responsibility: understanding risks without becoming a specialist in every field, exercising judgment without taking the place of management, making decisions within a regulated environment, assuming personal responsibility, and maintaining one’s expertise over the long term.
The ISFB Certificate in Governance and Risk Management for Board Members begins on September 3, 2026, and consists of seven non-consecutive half-days of in-person instruction at the ISFB’s Geneva campus. It is intended for members of the boards of directors of financial institutions, as well as cross-functional professionals who are not risk management specialists but who ultimately aspire to serve as directors.
Being taught by banking risk management professionals and current board members—within the professional association dedicated to developing skills in the banking and financial sector in French-speaking Switzerland—gives this program a unique standing. The involvement of ACAD and the Cercle Suisse des Administratrices in this certificate program places it within a broader movement toward the professionalization of boards.
The goal is clear: to provide board members with the necessary tools to assess risk, ask the right questions, fully fulfill their roles, and contribute to the strength of the institution they govern.
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