Jacob Gyntelberg

Jacob Gyntelberg is Chief Risk Officer and member of the Group Executive Board of Jyske Bank. His responsibilities include overseeing risks, compliance, financial crime prevention, sustainability and legal functions. Gyntelberg Jacob has served in executive roles such as European Banking Authority, Nordea, the Bank for International Settlements, Danske Bank, Nykredit and Danmarks Nationalbank. Through his entire career, Gyntelberg Jacob has been bridging technical risk management with executive decision-making.

Risk Management Must be Kept Close to Executive Decision Makers

Leaders of any banking institution must cope with continuously changing regulations, economic uncertainty and financial crime. The job of Chief Risk Officer is not only to discover risks. The main problem is to keep risk considerations as an integral part of the day-to-day decision making process without hindering the business from responding quickly to changes.

This is exactly how Gyntelberg Jacob's mandate can be described. After becoming a member of the Group Executive Board, Gyntelberg Jacob took charge not only for such a traditional area of responsibility as financial risk but for compliance, sustainability and legal affairs too.

His previous leadership at the European Banking Authority provided him with experience in risk analysis from a supervisory perspective, while earlier positions inside major Nordic financial institutions exposed him to practical implementation challenges. Those experiences give him visibility into both regulatory expectations and the realities of commercial banking.

From Analysis to Effective Governance

An effective risk framework should influence decision-making before issues arise. This places greater emphasis on judgment rather than the process itself.

Jacob Gyntelberg's career illustrates this approach. He has had experience working in the realm of central banks, international regulatory bodies, and also commercial banking, enabling him to evaluate the financial stability of companies from various angles. The time he spent at the Bank for International Settlements and then the European Banking Authority increased his expertise of macroeconomic risks and supervisory analysis. Leadership positions in Nordea and prior banking experience gave him the firsthand experience of implementing these concepts in large financial institutions.

In Jyske Bank, all this allows him to adopt an approach where governance is supposed to guide business decisions rather than react to them.

Managing Risk Across Connected Priorities

The responsibilities of a modern day Chief Risk Officer have started to encompass areas that were formerly separate. Risk management and sustainability have become intertwined with the regulatory compliance and legality of decisions.

This is evident in the case of Gyntelberg who does not have a focus on just one type of risk, but encompasses multiple areas of work which impact the bank’s long term resilience. Managing this broadened responsibility demands constant decision making frameworks and understanding that no two types of risks occur in isolation.

This is because he possesses an education in economics from the University of Copenhagen which, combined with his extensive professional experience, results in a leadership approach which is disciplined while being linked to the realities of business.

In the face of the constantly changing supervisory demands in the financial industry this provides a way to develop consistency in governance without divorcing risk management from decision making.

The responsibilities of a Chief Risk Officer keep growing along with the complexity of the contemporary banking industry. The career of Jacob Gyntelberg is a reflection of this trend based on his extensive experience gained in the fields of regulation, central banking, and commercial banking. At Jyske Bank, Jacob Gyntelberg brings these perspectives together to ensure that risk management remains closely aligned with executive decision-making.