CGM Global Summit 2025 – Reflections Through a Banker’s Lens (Series 2/9)
“Resilience is Survival — Not Strategy.”
That’s how Philippe JOUBERT, Founder of Earth on Board and Advisor to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, began his session moderated by Dato' Seri Johan Raslan— and it stayed with me long after the talk ended.
We’ve now breached 7 of 9 planetary boundaries, from climate change to ocean acidification.
For decades, businesses treated nature as free capital, extracting value without accounting for its limits. But nature — and society — are sending strong signals that the old model no longer works.
Joubert urged boards and leaders to rethink “risk” and redefine “resilience.”
The Pandora Box is open.
Risks are no longer linear — they cascade. A physical risk quickly becomes social, regulatory, or reputational. Instead of predicting every event, he challenged us to ask:
“What do we really want to protect?” Our purpose? Our people? Our credibility?
This shift demands that boards take responsibility — not just for short-term returns, but for long-term survival.
5 Lessons That Changed How I See Resilience
1️⃣ Resilience ≠ Resistance Adapt and recover — don’t stand rigid. A windmill that bends in a storm endures longer than one that resists.
2️⃣ Profit Is a Means, Not the Purpose Boards often mistake shareholder returns for company interest. Their duty is to sustain the company, not just the quarter.
3️⃣ The Real Cost of Doing Business “We’re all counterfeiters,” Joubert said — paying bonuses on fictional profits that ignore environmental costs. Shadow pricing (carbon, water, pollination) must guide decisions.
4️⃣ Beyond Efficiency “Just-in-time” no longer works. We need buffers, redundancies, and scenario planning for disruption.
5️⃣ Collaboration Is Non-Negotiable No company can be resilient alone. Resilience requires governments, regulators, and communities working together.
His strongest reminder:
“Don’t count on the market to correct itself. It never has, and it never will.”
My Reflection
As a banker, Philippe Joubert’s words really hit home. We often view resilience through capital strength or liquidity — but true resilience is about protecting our purpose, people, and credibility when disruption strikes.
His message is clear: we can’t manage 21st-century risks with 20th-century tools. For banks, that means applying BNM’s CCPT and VBIAF not just for compliance, but to truly future-proof decisions. We need to ask — is this business model sustainable, or is it building tomorrow’s risk?
Scenario planning, shadow pricing, and closer collaboration with clients and regulators are now essentials, not options.
From my experience, I see resilience as the new currency of trust. It’s not just about how much we lend — it’s about how well we last.
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Gary Theseira Sunita Rajakumar Najaah Nabeeha
