ISFB Insight
Understanding Banking to Better Perform One's Own Job
July 9, 2026
As an ISFB lecturer for the ISFB Private Banking Certificate program, Thibault Weill emphasizes the importance of banking fundamentals for all employees working in or with a bank. Products, markets, risks, customer relations, and industry terminology: these fundamentals provide a framework, facilitate communication, and foster independence.
Thibault Weill, you are an ISFB lecturer for the ISFB Private Banking Certificate program. Your career path has taken you from private banking to investment banking and then to retail banking. What has this diverse experience taught you about the core banking skills that every employee should master?
The world of banking and finance in general is made up of a wide variety of different professions, but they all benefit from sharing a common language and an understanding of markets, products, risks, and, above all, customer expectations.
The ISFB Private Banking and Investment Management Assistant Certificates are entry-level certifications. Why does this entry-level certification remain so useful, even for people who are already working in a bank?
These certificates provide basic skills and knowledge and can be useful at every stage of a career: they offer the essential framework for understanding one’s work, communicating more effectively with others in the bank, and gaining greater autonomy. They also allow individuals to expand their knowledge into areas that are less familiar to generalists, such as foreign exchange or structured products.
These certificates may also be of interest to holders of vocational or high school diplomas who lack initial banking training, as well as to those in cross-functional roles or external consultants who work with banks. What do they stand to gain?
They gain a clear understanding of the Swiss banking sector, including its mechanisms, terminology, regulatory constraints, and business logic. These certificates also provide students with a basic understanding of economics and financial markets.
You work specifically with currencies, a subject that is sometimes seen as technical. What do you really need to understand about the foreign exchange markets when working in or with a bank?
The goal is not to train traders, but first and foremost to learn the methodology and terminology specific to this asset class. We need to demystify the field and understand how currencies affect clients, their portfolios, and the day-to-day decisions of each investor.
For roles in HR, IT, operations, risk, legal, audit, or consulting, why is it so important to understand banking jargon in addition to expertise in one’s own field?
Technical expertise alone isn’t always enough: to perform well, you need to be fluent in the language of internal clients. You also need to understand their priorities, their day-to-day work, the risks involved, and how to serve clients. Just like a foreign language, it’s part of the “business culture”!
The Management Assistant Certificate delves deeper into specialization, covering areas such as organization, time management, customer relations, and professional conduct. How do you see this role evolving?
In an increasingly digital world, human interactions in the workplace must provide significant added value. The administrative assistant is becoming a central pillar of the team, capable of ensuring smooth operations, coordinating priorities, and directly contributing to the quality of customer service. The better these technical aspects—as mentioned above—are mastered, the greater the added value will be.
After completing an ISFB certificate program, what would you like participants to do differently once they return to their banks?
He should feel more confident in his interactions with other banking departments and clients, and be able to correct any mistakes made by his colleagues.
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