The students of the MSc in Banking and Finance met at the headquarters of Berner Kantonalbank in Bern. Planned for the day were five presentations about bank management and a visit to the Federal Parliament in the city itself. The first presentation was given by Armin Brun, CEO of Berner Kantonalbank. Armin Brun presented the current strategy of the Berner Kantonalbank, its development and implementation. In doing so, the values of BEKB as well as its commitment and topics such as sustainability and trust were brought closer to the students. The second presentation was about political lobbying and was given by Dr. Hilmar Gernet. He represents Raiffeisen in Bern towards various stakeholders and explained how the bank may contribute to opinion making. The third presentation of the morning was given by Dr. Stefanie Behncke from the Swiss National Bank. She explained the work fields of the Swiss National Bank and focused on the topic of financial stability. In addition, the Corona loans granted through the federal credit program were also explained in more detail.
Dr. Stefanie Behncke of Swiss National Bank (SNB) during her talk about financial stability
The afternoons presentations revolved around innovation and sustainability in bank management. PostFinance kicked off with the first presentation of the afternoon. Matthias Strazza (Head of VNTR) used examples such as Tilbago to show how PostFinance deals with innovation. Finally, in the last presentation of the afternoon, Michael Gaschen (CEO of Valuu) presented the PostFinance online marketplace for mortgages.
After these interesting presentations, the students went to the next meeting point, the Federal Parliament in Bern. There the students met the National Councilor of the Canton of Valais, Philipp Bregy, who highlighted the connection between business and politics in Switzerland. At the end of the seminar day, the MSc in Banking and Finance students were given a tour around the premise of the parliament and learned about its history. Thus ended a successful seminar day in Bern, which provided a practical insight into strategies, business models and the connection between business and politics.
The students of the MSc in Banking and Finance in front of the Federal Parliament
