Key findings: Trends in bank board composition and structure
The KPMG BLC analyzes 260 banks in the Russell 3000 index and their governance practices.
September 2025
As banks are faced with increasing complexities, including an uncertain regulatory environment, changing interest rate policy, and the opportunities and risks posed by emerging technologies, the role of the board is more important than ever. Indeed, sound governance practices in the banking sector are key to supporting stability not only within the industry itself but also across the entire financial system.
To understand how bank board practices have evolved to meet these demands, the KPMG Board Leadership Center, in collaboration with the KPMG Banking & Capital Markets practice, examined how bank boards have changed over the last five years. We analyzed the board structure, composition, and other governance practices of the banks within the Russell 3000 index—and the background and skill sets of the directors who serve on them, including comparisons by asset size and between banks and the broader universe of all Russell 3000 companies.1
The following are some of the key highlights.
Bank board size
Bank boards are generally larger than the average US public company board. The average bank board had 11 directors, compared to 9 directors for the average Russell 3000 board. Interestingly, nearly half of the bank boards analyzed had 12 or more directors, whereas only 14 percent of all Russell 3000 companies had boards this large. Bank board size also tends to increase with bank size: 78 percent of the largest banks—those with $50 billion or more in assets—have 12 or more directors.
Bank board committees
Banks tend to have more board committees than companies in other sectors. On average, banks had five board committees, while the average Russell 3000 company had four. This difference in committee structure is driven by regulatory requirements and the complexity of the financial sector. In particular, six in ten banks studied had a dedicated risk committee, a regulatory requirement for large banks. In comparison, only 10 percent of all Russell 3000 companies had a risk committee. Industry consolidation has led to fewer smaller banks—many of which are not required to have a risk committee—leading to an increase in the overall percentage of banks with board risk committees between 2020 and 2024.
Bank board technology committees
One notable trend is an increasing prevalence of technology committees among bank boards, especially at the largest banks. Nearly half (44%) of the banks with $50 billion or more in assets have a dedicated technology committee, compared to only 10 percent of smaller banks.
Most bank board technology committees are responsible for overseeing technology strategy, cybersecurity, investment in technology, data and information security, and IT risk and controls. Notably, only 10 percent of the bank board technology committees in this study have responsibility for overseeing AI.
Bank board directors
Bank board directors tend to be older than their counterparts in other sectors. The average bank director age was 64 in 2024, compared to an average age of 62 for all Russell 3000 directors.
Additionally, bank directors often stay on their boards longer than other directors. The average tenure of directors on bank boards was 10.3 years, while it was 7.8 years for Russell 3000 directors. Directors at smaller banks—those under $10 billion in assets—had the highest average tenure at 10.8 years.
Bank directors are less likely to serve on multiple boards, with 86 percent serving on only one board, compared to 71 percent of Russell 3000 directors.
Among those bank directors who have skill sets disclosed, nearly half reported having a background in risk management, the top skill disclosed.
Footnotes
1 Data for the study was provided by Equilar, a corporate leadership data firm, as well as ESGAUGE, which mines public company disclosures using artificial intelligence (AI).