The Future
of Finance

The financial world is undergoing profound change. AI, regulatory pressure, and geopolitical uncertainty are confronting leaders with challenges that demand an entirely new quality of thinking. In this issue of the St. Gallen Business Review, we turn our attention to exactly this tension and ask what future-ready leadership in the finance sector looks like today.

To explore these questions, we spoke with individuals who shape financial institutions at the highest level, from global banks to regulatory bodies. The series opens with Francesco Ceccato, CEO of Barclays Europe, who speaks about Europe's structural disadvantages in financing AI infrastructure, the fragmentation of its capital markets, and why trust remains the single most important currency in banking. Further contributions will follow in the coming weeks.

The future of finance will not emerge on its own. It is being actively built, negotiated, and debated by the kind of leaders featured in these pages. Bringing those perspectives together and asking what skills and structures the sector will need going forward is what this issue is ultimately about.