ISFB Insight
Raise awareness among professionals about crisis management
October 15, 2026
When faced with a situation in which certain operational resources are lacking or compromised, the ability to ask the right questions becomes essential. In this interview, Gabriel Bovolenta, an ISFB lecturer for the ISFB Staff and Support Certificate program, discusses the challenges of crisis management.
Gabriel Bovolenta, you are a lecturer at ISFB for the ISFB Staff and Support Certificate program. What is the topic of your presentation?
I am once again pleased to lead the Crisis Management module as part of the ISFB Certificate Program for this second edition. The goal of this module is to provide participants with an introduction to crisis management, covering both preparation for and response to situations of significant disruption within—or affecting—their institution.
As a banking industry professional with nearly 20 years of experience, I emphasize an approach grounded in real-world realities, focusing on practicality and proportionality—particularly when circumstances require operating in a degraded mode. When certain operational resources are lacking (e.g., failure of critical infrastructure) or are compromised (e.g., a cyberattack), a large part of the crisis response hinges on the ability to ask the right questions and to accept that a painful decision is sometimes the least bad option for preserving what matters most.
Another key theme emphasized in the module is the adaptability of the response. This agility—which involves constantly adjusting the crisis management structure to better reflect and incorporate developments in the situation—is, above all, the result of a strong corporate culture, exemplary leadership, and effective communication. In this regard, the key principles covered during the module can withstand a wide range of stressful and challenging situations, regardless of whether or not production resources are available.
How do you view the challenges of crisis management in the banking sector?
The banking industry has become highly interconnected and competitive. Safety margins and latency times have been reduced to the absolute minimum, making it extremely challenging to map inherent and residual risks in detail. This phenomenon is all the more evident when we analyze situations with a very low probability of occurrence but which, if they were to occur, could trigger a cascade of events with profound impacts on the banking system and our broader environment. In such circumstances of systemic crisis, traditional approaches to business continuity management can quickly reach their limits.
This realization is prompting institutions to review their crisis response plans, favoring strategies that are easy to communicate and applicable regardless of the scenario, recognizing that the next disruption will likely impact them in an unexpected way and at the worst possible time. As a result, detailed procedures and plans are increasingly giving way to resilience strategies focused on the ability to mobilize the right skills to address any situation, regardless of its nature, and to remain focused at all times on the issues essential to the organization’s viability.
In addition to these considerations regarding the competitiveness and adaptability of banking institutions, this trend is accompanied by new regulatory provisions and standards, which require institutions to recognize their role in maintaining a stable financial market.
What specific benefits will your presentation provide for the participants?
In the preliminary phase (“pre-crisis”), priority is given to integrating crisis management activities with other functions related to strategic resilience management (e.g., defining essential services and associated priorities, culture, and governance) and risk management (e.g., business continuity planning, tolerance limits, monitoring, and reporting).
In the reactive phase (“crisis response”), the focus is on the mechanisms that support incident management, the mobilization of a crisis management team, the key competencies that facilitate a coordinated and effective response (including crisis leadership and internal/external communication), as well as some practical tools designed to support the crisis management team in its efforts to safeguard critical operations and ensure their continued functioning in a degraded mode (operational resilience).
In the final phase (“post-crisis”), the focus is on returning to normalcy by ensuring that crisis resources are phased out and that lessons learned are incorporated with the goal of continuous improvement and sound risk management.
In addition to the theoretical components, which are based on the latest industry standards, the module encourages active participation through a crisis simulation. Participants are then invited to take the lead by putting themselves in the shoes of the teams tasked with managing the situation as it unfolds.
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