Switzerland's wealth managers must show that they have independent boards under new rules, and that means finding people with knowledge to do that job. And the business of finding boardroom talent is growing up on the continent and relying less on word of mouth. Zurich-based DART Talent and Executive Search talks to this news service.

As new Swiss regulations bite, wealth management groups in the Alpine state need to ensure independent representation in their boardrooms. But finding the most suitable people for these roles isn’t easy, particularly when there is a pandemic.

DART Talent and Executive Search, the Zurich-based group founded in 2009, has built a new venture to tackle the demand. It is helping firms gain a competitive edge by removing the chore of finding an independent director by providing them with access to a far deeper talent pool.

Board Owl is a platform designed to match up potential advisors with small- and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and foundations - not purely in the financial sector but across industries. 

Board Owl is an example of the kind of venture that plays to shifts in how firms obtain talent in the internet age. The group draws up a vetted list of people suitable for such positions, while firms seeking talent sign up. When certain requests/offers match up, an interview can go ahead, leading to a result. The service also benefits individuals, as many seasoned professionals seek extra-curricular opportunities to get involved in exciting ventures to which they can bring their experience and expertise.

Since the start of this year, new regulations – Financial Services Act (FinSA) and Financial Institutions Act (FinSI) – have taken effect, with full details emerging in the coming weeks. It is widely expected that asset managers with sizeable assets or with more than 10 employees will be required to prove the independence of their boards, as well as satisfy other requirements such as minimum capital and internal controls.

Modernisation
In the past, without the financial means to pay for a structured search, institutions creating boards had to find members via word of mouth recommendations and in other ad hoc ways without a systematic filtering process. The Board Owl operation changes that. 

“Firms will have to present whom they want approved on boards to FINMA. This is an opportunity for firms to seize the opportunity to differentiate themselves and add additional skills or network to their teams so that this is not just a box-ticking exercise,” Daniel Aghdami, DART’s founder, told this news service recently.

“There is a misconception that available board members often do little to impact the course of a company and are just in it to cash in,” he said. "I can assure you that there are many highly qualified individuals who are excited about and committed to contributing their expertise for impact. The time of the wine-and-dine board member with a big expense account is over."

Board Owl was successfully piloted at the end of 2019 and formally launched in March 2020. It has already successfully matched board members to SMEs and start-ups in Switzerland and Asia, and built partnerships with some of Switzerland‘s biggest professional networks and incubators. 

His colleague, Aleksandar Sasha Savic, partner and DART’s chief operating officer, said that the Board Owl offering was also about ensuring a more diverse and varied group of people could be put into a pool of potential recruits.

Beyond the sourcing of corporate board members, Board Owl also helps companies find experienced advisors to positively influence their success. Advisory boards can be an attractive option to companies and individuals alike, as they do not incur the same responsibilities and liabilities, and loss of control to founder-owners.

“Whereas already widespread in the UK and US, the concept of an advisory board is still quite new in [continental] Europe,” Aghdami said. “Many people find it very difficult if not impossible to find opportunities because very often they are behind closed doors,” he continued.

A well-composed advisory board with diversity of skill and experience can prove a very effective differentiator to any company, with advisors, typically highly-experienced sector veterans, providing valuable strategic advice, acting as sparring partners to senior management, and adding credibility and network.

The idea of matching people up with one another is not a novel one, of course: the dating agency business has been doing this via the internet for years, and the tremendous success of professional social media network Linkedin is an example of how people connect virtually. The Board Owl business has the ambition to make a substantial, sustainable impact to the backbone of the economy with vetted matches, board education through partnering business schools and blending the scalability of technology with human oversight for affordable access.