Regulatory Alerts2026-03-23
Laura van Geest: 'Looking Away Is Never Neutral'
Laura van Geest, CEO of the Dutch Financial Supervisory Authority (AFM), delivers a symposium address arguing that corporate governance failures often stem from the deliberate choice to look away rather than from outright malice. She identifies three recurring patterns of avoidance—using euphemistic language, tolerating operational friction, and silencing uncomfortable topics—and warns that these choices actively shape reality and accumulate reputational and financial risk. To counter this, she mandates that board chairs actively cultivate psychological safety by normalizing doubt, structuring formal dissent, separating exploration from decision-making, and prioritizing sensitive issues early in agendas to ensure oversight quality.
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