Romandie | Strengthening Operational Resilience: FINMA Guidance 05/2025 in Practice

Summary

Swiss Risk Association – Expert Event

Operational resilience has become a core supervisory priority for FINMA — yet recent findings show that many financial institutions are still at an early stage of maturity.

This Swiss Risk Association event explores FINMA Guidance 05/2025 on Operational Resilience, providing regulatory insights and practical perspectives on how banks, securities firms, and financial market infrastructures can better prevent, withstand, and recover from operational disruptions — including cyber threats — while safeguarding critical functions and financial system stability.

Why this event matters

Based on FINMA’s 2024 industry survey, significant gaps remain across the market:

• 85% of institutions in supervisory categories 1–3 have not yet conducted operational resilience testing
• Only 10% are planning tests, mostly on an annual basis
• 5% have neither tested nor included testing in future plans
• Just 12–15% of institutions have fully integrated resilience components into a comprehensive risk framework
• Around 60% rely on internally developed metrics, with wide variation and limited market consistency

These findings highlight an urgent need to move from awareness to action.

What you will gain

Participants will gain:

• A clear understanding of FINMA’s expectations and regulatory context for operational resilience, as well as insights into the survey results.
• A better understanding of how to define critical functions and impact tolerances that reflect the board’s risk appetite (not just current capabilities).
• Practical insights from industry peers on what works (and what doesn’t) when designing resilience frameworks, especially on how to embed operational resilience into a governance and risk structure.
• How to operationalise testing, define critical functions, and align tolerances with strategic risk appetites.
• Practical next steps to comply with the 2026 implementation timeline and supervisory reviews.

Moderator

• Gilles Kerouanton, Group Head of Operational Risk at Pictet
  Gilles brings over 20 years of experience in the financial industry across Europe, Asia and Switzerland. He joined Pictet in Singapore in 2013 and assumed his current Group position in 2019. Prior to joining Pictet, he spent nearly a decade as a financial auditor at a leading Big Four firm. Gilles holds advanced degrees in finance and risk, and is FRM certified.

Expert Speakers

• Dusko Ignjic-Gawot, Supervisor Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA
  Dusko oversees operational risk management and operational resilience within FINMA’s Integrated Risk Expertise Division. In this role, he represents FINMA on operational resilience matters at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP), and the Swiss National Bank (SNB). He brings experience from a Big Four firm and the financial industry and holds the Swiss CPA (Dipl. Wirtschaftsprüfer) qualification. In this event, he will provide insights into FINMA Guidance 05/2025, including key survey findings, supervisory expectations, strengths and weaknesses observed across the industry, and elements of best practice.
• Gabriel Bovolenta, Head of Group Corporate Resilience at Pictet
  Gabriel is an experienced Finance, Risk and Business Manager. Throughout his 15+ years career in the industry, he has built a solid track record in financial and non-financial risk management for renowned private banking groups, in Switzerland and abroad. Gabriel is a certified project manager, engineer and financial analyst, and is an Executive MBA graduate. Since taking on his current position in 2023, Gabriel has been a key driver in the design and roll out of the Pictet Group Operational Resilience capabilities.
• Maxime Mermier, Chief Risk Officer at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV)
  Maxime joined BCV in 2004 as a credit risk analyst and has held various senior roles across risk management, structured products, and within the CFO area. Since 2016, he has been Head of Risk Management, covering credit, market, and operational risks, including the internal control system. He has led key risk initiatives and cross-functional projects, including the implementation of FINMA Circular 2023/1 – Operational Risks and Resilience. Maxime holds a master’s degree in management from HEC Lausanne and an Executive MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He will share first-hand experience on the practical implementation of the FINMA operational resilience requirements, including challenges, lessons learned, and success factors.

Who should attend

• Risk and resilience professionals
• Operational risk, IT risk, and cyber risk leaders
• Compliance, governance, and internal control specialists
• Senior management involved in operational resilience strategy

Join us to turn regulatory expectations into actionable resilience, strengthen your operating model, and prepare your institution for future disruptions.

Moderation & Introduction

Introduced and moderated by Jean-Pierre Colombara SRA Board Member and Gilles Kerouanton, SRA Chapter Advisor.

Agenda

17:45 – Arrival & Name Tag Collection
18:00 – Welcome and Introduction (Jean-Pierre Colombara / Gilles Kerouanton)
18:05 – Presentation of Dusko Ignjic-Gawot, FINMA
18:35 – Short Presentation of Gabriel Bovolenta, Pictet
18:50 – Short Presentation of Maxime Mermier, BCV
19:05 – Q&A Roundtable moderated by Gilles Kerouanton
19:45 – Apéro & Networking (until 20:45)

Chapter Event

The main goals of the Chapter “Private Banking & Wealth Management” are to provide a platform for exchanging ideas, best practices, and experiences within the “Suisse Romandie” Risk Professionals community. The Chapter will cover the Private Banking and Asset Management risk domains (e.g. customer risks, reputational risks, regulatory risks, investment risks, credit risks, operational risks, ESG risks, cross-border risks, etc.)