Resilient Leadership In Financial Services

Positioned at the heart of the economy and the lifeblood of commercial operations, few industries experience volatility as acutely as financial services. Organizations are dealing with changing client demands, rising compliance expectations, new waves of technology and multi-generational workforces shifting the talent dynamic.

As part of our Leading Through Uncertainty series, Kate Burns, Chief Operating Officer at Odgers, joined Anne Murphy, head of our global Financial Services Practice, to consider how the most effective leaders are responding and the qualities that matter most.  

The discussion explored why:

• Resilient financial leaders apply inclusive, enterprise-wide leadership.
• Creating space for long-term thinking can be transformative.
• There is no substitute for the right talent in your team.

Watch now:

The Influence of Regulation, Risk and AI

The industry is at a pivotal point. Globally, regulators are being asked to create the right conditions for growth; a delicate balancing act when most organizations operate internationally but regulation can be firmly domestic. Compliance demands are rising, and the cost and complexity of keeping pace with varying data, reporting and legal requirements across jurisdictions can be significant.

Despite talk of deregulation, businesses are facing more scrutiny, not less. Sustainability disclosures, data protection obligations and new reporting standards continue to tighten. For global companies, deciding how to resource and organize around these expectations is becoming increasingly challenging. 

The Opportunity Within Volatility

Periods of uncertainty and volatility can create consolidation opportunities within the finance sector, evident in insurance where private equity is moving in to capitalize on market fragmentation.

Uncertainty also creates mobility, giving businesses room to organize talent across geographies, business units and to reshape skills in line with evolving priorities.

“A crisis essentially makes a leader think very carefully about what the business should be doing in the future, how they're going to deliver that, and the people and the skills they'll need,” added Anne Murphy.

Multi-generational Workforces in Finance 

Today’s finance workforce spans more generations than ever, bringing valuable ranges of perspective but with certain challenges. 

Expectations differ widely across life stages: how people want to work, what they value and how they expect to communicate with leaders. Hierarchies are flatter, transparency is the norm and difficult conversations happen more frequently. This demands a more adaptable, inclusive and consensus led leadership style.

Traditional Incumbents Meet FinTechs

Incumbents once viewed FinTechs as a competitive threat, often responding by buying or investing in them, with mixed success. 

Today, both sides have matured whereby FinTechs better understand the regulatory demands of scaling, while established institutions have become more adept at partnering. Companies are using mechanisms like regulatory sandboxes to accelerate innovation safely. The result is a far more collaborative model: new technologies reach customers through larger institutions, and incumbents gain access to specialist expertise.

According to Anne, these are the five most important leadership attributes in Financial Services:

1. Be an enterprise leader first, contribute across the whole agenda.
2. Set and communicate a clear vision. 
3. Act with genuine integrity that customers and the team can see and feel. 
4. Exemplify clarity and transparency.
5. Build an inclusive culture that keeps teams engaged and aligned.

Future Guidance for Success

Chief executives and leadership teams need protected space to consider emerging risks, spot new opportunities and pivot quickly. “This is what will define the businesses that prosper in difficult times versus those that wait for circumstances to change and impact their success. It all comes back to having the right team around you - it changes everything,” concluded Anne Murphy.

Odgers’ global Financial Services Practice brings the scale, expertise and local nuance needed to find world-class financial leaders equipped to deliver momentum and achieve long-term growth.

Explore our ‘Leading Through Uncertainty’ collection here. 

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We understand the impact of appointing the very best talent, both on organizational transformation, and the lives of those associated with them.  

With 57 offices in 33 countries, Odgers' deep industry expertise combined with global reach and local nuance, builds transformational leadership teams with world-class talent. 

Get in touch. Follow the links below to learn more, or connect directly with our dedicated executive search experts and Financial leadership consultants at your local  Odgers office here.