Introduction

This post is based on research carried out for a European client bank. It is about board governance in large banking organisations. Using information from a sample of 32 international “best practice” banks compiled by Aktis Ltd (www.aktisintel.com) and a series of interviews with bank board leaders and senior supervisors, we examine the way bank boards organise themselves to effectively deliver their tasks: directing and controlling the organisations they lead; and taking timely, effective decisions in this regard.

The complete publication develops along three broad themes: board leadership, board interface with management and board—level strategic human resources issues. This post focuses on four specific areas within these broad themes: board composition, i.e. the profile of the people that populate the boards of best practice banks; board succession planning and nomination approaches which will determine the quality of people over time and ensure continuity; board committees, i.e. the way the board organises itself to manage areas where conflicts might arise and/or where expertise and deep dives are required; and senior management committee architecture, which reflects the changing strategic priorities and risk perspectives of major banks, determines the sources of board information and orders accountability of management to the board.

We recognise that best practice in the areas under investigation comes in many forms. Differences are due not only to jurisdictional idiosyncrasies but also to different philosophies, corporate origins and legacy. While common solutions do exist, very often we find that there is more than one way to address board governance imperatives.

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