In a speech at the European University Institute in Florence, Anneli Tuominen, Member of the ECB Supervisory Board, emphasized that banks’ boards must adapt to an increasingly complex and volatile risk environment, driven by digitalisation, cyber threats, geopolitical tensions, and hybrid risks.
Tuominen noted that while traditional risks such as credit and market risk persist, non-traditional risks have grown in scale and interconnection, demanding more robust governance and specialized expertise at board level. She highlighted three key qualities for the “board of the future”:
-
Strong knowledge and risk awareness, especially in ICT and cyber resilience, in line with the EU’s new Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA).
-
Effective communication and reputation management, as banks face growing exposure to disinformation and rapid reputational contagion via social media.
-
Balancing adaptation and innovation, particularly in the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and cloud technologies.
The ECB, she said, is helping banks address these challenges through new supervisory expectations, reverse stress tests on geopolitical risk, and guidance on outsourcing and ICT risk management.
Tuominen concluded that supervisors and banks share a learning journey in navigating this transformed landscape, stressing collaboration over isolation:
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
