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Effective internal and external oversight structures are essential to ensure good governance of financial institutions and a sustainable business model. Executive management is responsible for implementing these structures, and supervisory boards should assess whether they appear reasonably designed and effective. Under a comprehensive approach, the business areas serve as the first line of defense and determine risk appetite; control functions in risk management and compliance serve as a second line of defense to monitor, manage, and mitigate manifold types of risks, from cyber to fraud; and internal audit reviews as a third line of defence. Additional oversight may be provided by external auditors, and within regulated industry sectors including financial services, by governmental supervisory authorities. Ensuring appropriate governance, control and oversight structures becomes even more important within corporate groups operating on a cross-border basis.
The payment services provider Wirecard grew rapidly and in late 2018 reached a market capitalization of €24 billion, yet it had been the subject of speculation over accounting irregularities and allegations of money laundering. In June 2020, the FinTech company Wirecard was reported to have €1,9 billion cash missing, and within the first day of his joining the company, Mr Freis unveiled massive internal fraud. The fraud scandal has called into question the roles of stakeholders within and outside the institution. In its corporate governance, Wirecard did not have any audit or nomination committee in the period 2015-2019 and a comparatively undersized Supervisory Board checking on the executive management. This case generally sheds light on the needs for strengthening both structures and the individuals involved in supervision and audit of financial institutions in Europe.
In this context, this online debate will:
- Reflect upon broader Wirecard lessons for Boards and Banks in having an efficient corporate governance framework with effective control functions
- Discuss financial reporting and auditing deficiencies and inefficiencies, legal and procedural impediments in supervising and enforcing financial information
- Consider alternatives for the overall supervisory system (from whistleblowing mechanisms to the supervisory architecture in Europe)
Speaker
James H. Freis, Jr. (Former CEO, Wirecard)
This second online seminar takes place in the framework of the Challenges for Bank Board Members series, which aims at building a community of professionals from the banking and finance industry interested in deepening their knowledge about bank boards’ functioning and learning how to challenge bank management effectively. Seminar speakers will include an international faculty of regulators, supervisors, and academics together with bank and finance professionals. The Challenges for Bank Board Members series is part of the new FBF Bank Board Academy for Non-Executive Directors.
Course dates: 11 January – 07 February 2021
Estimated time required from participants: 20 hours
Course Director: Bart Joosen (VU University Amsterdam and Recofise)
Course Instructors: Anna Bak (Association for Financial Markets in Europe – AFME); Simon Broxham (Duver Consulting); Patrizia Canziani (Structured Finance Professional); Jean-Jacques Van Helten (European University Institute, Florence School of Banking and Finance); Giovanni Inglisa (European Investment Fund); Mira Larimben, Carlos Echave (European Banking Authority)
Guest Contributors: Adrien Amzallag, Eduardo-Javier Moral-Prieto, (European Securities and Markets Authority – ESMA), Javier Antón San Pablo (Santander Consumer Finance), Marcel Haag (European Commission DG FISMA), Giovanni Inglisa (European Investment Fund)
The FBF team: Christy Petit (Course advisor); Pierre Schlosser (Course advisor); Jan Trevisan (Course designer);
Area: Regulation, Supervision and Resolution
Level: Introductory/Intermediate
Target: Financial Regulators and Supervisors; Members from Central Banks and Institutions (EU, intergovernmental, national goverments); Academic researchers; Personnel in private banks and law firms.
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The Covid-19 crisis has brought credit risk back to the attention of regulators, supervisors and banks. On the one hand, policymakers are requiring banks to prepare themselves for a future increase in Non-Performing-Loans (NPL) by setting aside enough loan loss provisions, also in light of the recently adopted IFSR 9 accounting rules. On the other hand, the existence of public moratoria and the prevailing uncertainty on the evolution of the pandemic make it more difficult for banks to assess borrowers’ creditworthiness and build stable and reliable macroeconomic forecasts. Banks are thus required to adjust their credit risk models and build new IT and data infrastructure to manage the current situation.
On this background, bank supervisors have provided additional guidance on credit risk identification and measurement in the context of the pandemic, and are requiring boards to engage tightly with the management on the matter, thus discussing provisioning policies and NPE management strategies in details.
In this context, this online debate will:
- Assess the credit risk situation in the banking sector
- Take stock of the regulatory and supervisory actions concerning credit risk management in the context of the pandemic
- Reflect upon banks’ operating models and strategies to ensure credit risk monitoring and management after Covid
- Discuss the implications for the role of the NED in the management of credit risk by the management
Chair
Thorsten Beck (Cass Business School and Florence School of Banking and Finance, European University Institute)
Speakers
José Manuel Campa (Chairperson, European Banking Authority)
Klara Jandova (Partner, Oliver Wyman)

Francesca Tondi Guy (Non Executive Director, UniCredit group)

This third online seminar takes place in the framework of the Challenges for Bank Board Members series, which aims at building a community of professionals from the banking and finance industry interested in deepening their knowledge about bank boards’ functioning and learning how to challenge bank management effectively. Seminar speakers include an international faculty of regulators, supervisors, and academics together with bank and finance professionals. The Challenges for Bank Board Members series is part of the new FBF Bank Board Academy for Non-Executive Directors.
Register here
Most recent reports show growing volumes of alternative credit: fintech credit provided by non-bank digital platforms, and big tech credit provided by large technology companies, independently or in partnership with traditional financial institutions. According to a report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the ‘total alternative credit’ reached USD 795 billion globally in 2019.The expansion of alternative credit has been further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more people using financial services and shopping online. As the drastic growth of fintech and big tech credit continues in Asia, Africa and Latin America, should European policy-makers facilitate this innovation-driven change?
The growth of alternative credit is primarily demand-driven, including lower costs compared to traditional banking, ease of use, speed and convenience of fintech and big tech credit. Supply-side factors, in turn, are linked with the stringency of banking regulation, which can create barriers for fintech and big tech credit, but also ease of doing business, and the degree of development of bond and equity markets. Despite the promise of consumer benefits, rapid growth of credit bears the risk of over-indebtedness for individual borrowers and may present risks for financial stability.
The debate will focus on the risks and benefits of fintech and big tech credit from the European perspective.
The following questions will be addressed:
- Is alternative credit an opportunity or a concern for the European financial sector?
– Consumer perspective (e.g. choice, consumer protection, privacy)
– Business perspective (e.g. competition, financial stability) - Does the regulatory framework that regulates alternative credit:
– set barriers for the growth of alternative credit (innovation in finance more broadly)?
– overlook any risks (to consumer protection, financial stability, competitive process)?
Chair and Moderator
Thorsten Beck (Cass Business School and Florence School of Banking and Finance, European University Institute)
Speakers
Jon Frost (Bank for International Settlements)



Course dates: 15 February – 05 March 2021
Course Director: Philipp Paech (London School of Economics)
Area: Regulation, Supervision and Resolution
Level: Introductory/Intermediate
Target: EU Officials (ECB, SSM, SRB, ESRB, EBA, ESM), National Supervisory Authorities, Economists and Risk Managers in financial institutions and private banks, Lawyers and Accountants, Ph.D. Students, Post-Graduate Researchers, Assistant Professors.
Speaker
Edouard Fernandez-Bollo, Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank
After post-graduate studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud, Section Humanities and Social sciences, and an experience in different branches of French civil service, Edouard Fernandez-Bollo joined the Banque de France in 1988. He has occupied different posts related to Banking Regulation and Licensing, European harmonization and Banking Resolution issues. As of 2000 he was in charge of the legal secretariat of the Commission bancaire, the French supervisory authority and of its antimoney laundering policy unit. In 2004 he became its General Counsel and in 2008 deputy General Secretary. He has been chairing the Basle Committee Expert group on AML-CFT (antimoney landering and combating the financing of terrorism) issues since 2007. From 2010 to 2013 he was deputy General Secretary of the new Autorité de contrôle prudentiel, the integrated French prudential supervisorand from January 2014 to August 2019, he was Secretary General of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de resolution, Member of the European Banking Authority and of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Edouard Fernandez-Bollo is currently serving a five-year mandate as Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank.
This fourth online seminar takes place in the framework of the Challenges for Bank Board Members series, which aims at building a community of professionals from the banking and finance industry interested in deepening their knowledge about bank boards’ functioning and learning how to challenge bank management effectively. Seminar speakers include an international faculty of regulators, supervisors, and academics together with bank and finance professionals. The Challenges for Bank Board Members series is part of the new FBF Bank Board Academy for Non-Executive Directors.

Course dates: 04 – 19 March 2021
Course Director: Christian Brownlees (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Iman van Lelyveld (Universiteit Amsterdam and DNB)
Guest Contributors: Adrien Amzallag (European Securities and Markets Authority), Marco d’Errico (European Systemic Risk Board)
Teaching Associate: Natalie Kessler (European University Institute)
Area: Statistical and Econometric Methods
Level: Intermediate
Target: EU Officials (ECB, SSM, SRB, ESRB, EBA, ESM), National Supervisory Authorities, Financial Stability officers, Economics Departments And Forecasting Departments of Central Banks, Ph.D. and Post-doctoral researchers, Research department officers of private banks.

Course dates: 05 – 26 March 2021
Course Director: Jeffrey Wooldridge (Michigan State University)
Area: Statistical and Econometric Methods
Level: Advanced
Target: EU Officials (ECB, SSM, SRB, ESRB, EBA, ESM), National Supervisory Authorities, Financial Stability officers, Economics Departments And Forecasting Departments of Central Banks, Ph.D. and Post-doctoral researchers, Research department officers of private banks.

Save the Date! More info will be available soon.
Course dates: 7 – 29 April 2021
Course Directors: Seraina Grünewald (Radboud University Nijmegen); Katerina Theodossiou (Bank of Greece); Emiliano Tornese (European Commission); Tobias Tröger (Goethe University, Frankfurt)
Area: Regulation, Supervision and Resolution
Level: Intermediate
Target: EU Officials (ECB, SSM, SRB, ESRB, EBA, ESM), National Supervisory Authorities, financial stability and research department of Central Banks, Ph.D. students, financial institutions in the private sector, law firms.
Course dates: TBC 2021
Venue: Format TBC
Course Instructors: Nobuhiro Kiyotaki (Princeton University)
Area: Financial Stability and Macroprudential policy
Level: Advanced
Target: EU Officials (ECB, SSM, SRB, ESRB, EBA, ESM), National Supervisory Authorities, financial stability and research department of Central Banks, Ph.D. students, private sector economists
More information and registrations