Beauty is not a word most of us would associate with the world of finance. I mean if you wanted to spend a career pursuing beauty, Wall Street probably wouldn’t be top of your list. Banking is seen as a world of spreadsheets and regulations, of long stressful hours and high stakes, and since 2008, as an industry that has had to seriously earn back our trust.
But what if finance may be one of the most creative industries there is, not just despite its constraints but precisely because of them? And what if a bank, of all places, could be the vehicle to fulfill one’s desire to see the world and to make it better?
My guest today spent her entire career inside that world, and she sees it very differently from our stereotypical view of banking.
Kristine Braden is a global banker with 30 years’ experience working in Europe, Asia, the US, and Latin America. She worked for 26 years with Citigroup outside the US in a variety of senior roles, most recently as Europe Head, CEO and Board Member of Citibank Europe Plc in Ireland and CEO and Management Board Member of Citigroup Global Markets Europe in Germany.
She currently serves as a Board Director at Vontobel Holdings, an international investment firm with Swiss roots. She is also an Independent Director on the Board of KBC Group NV, a pan-European bank-insurance group headquartered in Belgium.
In this first part of our conversation, we discuss:
How wanderlust and curiosity for different cultures shaped Kristine’s vocational path
Her choice to pursue global banking
Navigating major financial crises
Finding beauty in a sense of accomplishment within regulatory constraints
The sense of craftsmanship in the world of banking
The challenges of a cross-border environment
This season of the podcast is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.
