How to… be a Chief Treasury Officer with Svetlana Kardan

The risks that sink a bank are usually sitting in plain sight: someone just stopped looking at them.

Senior treasury and asset liability management expert Svetlana Kardan joins Jennifer Geary to explore why spectacular banking collapses like Northern Rock and Silicon Valley Bank were technically visible long before they happened, and why nobody acted. Drawing on over 20 years in global banking and her forthcoming Psychology of Treasury book series, Svetlana unpacks the six cognitive traps behind treasury failures, why balance sheet risks stay hidden from the boardroom, and how she is coding her own simulators to make it all accessible.

You'll learn how to:

Spot the balance sheet risks that never reach the income statement

Recognise the six cognitive traps that quietly undermine treasury decisions

Ask the uncomfortable boardroom questions that others avoid

Stress test for what might happen, not just the last crisis

Read modern bank runs through the lens of deposit behaviour and technology

Bring curiosity, kindness, and resilience to a demanding leadership career

About Svetlana:

Svetlana Kardan is a senior asset liability management (ALM) and treasury risk professional with over 20 years' experience across global banking institutions. She has held senior leadership roles overseeing enterprise-wide interest rate risk, liquidity, and balance sheet management, with direct responsibility for regulatory engagement across multiple jurisdictions.

A recognised expert in behavioural modelling and hedging frameworks, Svetlana has led multi-million-pound transformation programmes and established ALM infrastructure for major international banks. A trusted advisor to executive committees and regulators, she is the author of the Psychology of Treasury book series and is completing a doctorate on the modelling of non-maturing deposits.