ISFB Insight
Anticipating Changes in the Banking Industry: Mauro Carli’s Perspective
October 22, 2026
Disintermediation, blockchain, new technologies: Swiss banking is seeing its business models and practices challenged. How can professionals understand these developments and leverage them in their work? Drawing on more than 25 years of experience at Lombard Odier, Mauro Carli discusses the reasons that led him to pursue the ISFB Future of Finance Certificate, the practical benefits of this program in his day-to-day work, and how it helps him better understand the challenges ahead.
You recently completed the ISFB Future of Finance Certificate program. What led you to take this course?
As an analyst and investment advisor at Lombard Odier for over 25 years, I primarily cover the financial sector, an industry undergoing profound transformation driven by a sustained trend toward disintermediation. In recent years, new business models—based on the use of innovative technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence—have profoundly reshaped the competitive landscape.
In this context, traditional financial institutions are facing the emergence of new players who are challenging their entire value chain—from customer acquisition to asset management, including risk management and trading activities. More fundamentally, the very paradigms of financial intermediation are now being reexamined.
The ISFB Future of Finance certificate program gave me a better understanding of the concepts, technologies, and tools that will shape the financial institutions and services of tomorrow. Through this program, I was able to familiarize myself with key topics such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and cybersecurity—all of which will help reinvent the financial ecosystem of the future.
Of the topics covered, which ones do you find most relevant to your professional responsibilities and daily practice?
The emergence and integration of artificial intelligence agents across the various links in the value chain of financial institutions are set to profoundly transform their business models. Beyond operational efficiency gains, these technologies are expected to contribute to a significant improvement in profitability, with potentially favorable implications for value creation and market capitalization—two dimensions at the heart of financial analysis.
At the same time, cybersecurity has emerged as a major strategic issue. Assessing the extent to which a company complies with the digital protection standards set by regulatory authorities is now an essential factor in any capital investment decision. Robust IT security governance has, in fact, become a key indicator of operational resilience and risk management.
To what extent has this training enriched your understanding of the changes in the financial sector and shaped your perspective on the challenges of the future?
The ISFB Future of Finance Certificate Program was particularly enriching for me in three ways.
- A better understanding of the extent of the changes taking place in the financial sector’s business models. The banks and insurance companies of the future will be significantly different from those we know today. Whether or not they lead to some form of disintermediation, new technologies are already profoundly transforming the way these institutions interact with their customers, distribute their products and services, and organize their operational processes.
- An awareness of the rapid pace of these changes. The pace of innovation in the financial sector is reflected in a steady acceleration in the launch of new products, services, and strategic initiatives driven by technological advances, which are constantly redefining the competitive dynamics of the market.
- The need for investment professionals to continuously update their knowledge. In an environment characterized by ever-faster technological change, it is essential for investment specialists to continually develop and update their expertise in order to discerningly assess opportunities for value creation as well as the risks associated with the transformation of companies in the financial sector.
What aspects of the journey made a particular impression on you?
Without a doubt, the most memorable part of the program was the final exam, which consisted of presenting a project focused either on starting a new business or on transforming a department or business unit within an existing organization, by applying the concepts and methodologies studied throughout the program.
This collaborative project, carried out alongside participants from various financial institutions in the Geneva financial center, proved to be particularly rewarding. The diversity of their backgrounds, expertise, and perspectives fostered high-quality discussions and significantly broadened my understanding of the challenges facing the sector.
Beyond gaining new knowledge, this experience led me to question some of my professional beliefs and approaches. Despite my many years of experience in the investment field, it gave me the opportunity to take a fresh look at the changes currently shaping the financial industry and the skills needed to thrive in it.
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