Knowledge

No matter what turn the economy takes in the year ahead, banks face a dramatically changed world—more regulation, fee restrictions, capital requirements and an end to outsized returns. That's the new normal and, as bank leaders are acutely aware, it means significantly reduced return on equity for a long time to come. The question is not how to get back to the good times, but how to move institutions forward under these vastly changed circumstances.

Away from the meta-national decision centers, family businesses in emerging and fringe economies need to continuously adapt their business models to the growing presence of globalization. Sometimes, this can mean they have less time or lack the necessary focus to optimize vital internal processes, such as top-level succession planning. In what follows, Egon Zehnder International consultants working on three different continents – in Argentina, Indonesia and Portugal – argue that in these special circumstances there are several aspects that must be observed if succession planning is to match up to best practices and meet with success.