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The banking industry today presents higher risks than other economic sectors. To take these risks is the
choice of every shareholder and manager. I arrive at work before 8 am and leave the bank after 8 pm.
This is the only way to work in order to achieve good results. The banking industry consists of a multitude
of little things hardly recognizable to outsiders. However, taken together they critically impact the banks
financial results. Every aspect of the business must receive its due attention, starting with administrative
tasks and ending with the closure of big transactions. There are a million of details which may escape the
attention of the banks managing director. A permanently heightened state of alert should therefore
become the responsible bankers second nature. In my opinion, a bank controlled and managed by its
owners is the best guarantee of success.
In addition, the right risk management does not consist in doing the maths and then ticking the box.
Rather, it consists in picking up the faint signal of today that will become tomorrows big challenge a
practice the Austrian economist and management consultant Peter Drucker has called the anticipation of
a future that has already happened. Risks are present in every form of business. However, some risks are
balanced by reasonable rewards, others are not. The essence of entrepreneurship consists in getting this
balance right.