Leading Through Uncertainty: Board Leadership, Governance & AI Readiness
The Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), in partnership with Board Stewardship, hosted a webinar on 8 September 2026, bringing together approximately 45 participants from Cambodia’s banking, microfinance and financial-services ecosystem.
The webinar, titled ‘Leading Through Uncertainty, Board Leadership, Governance, and AI Readiness,’ was organised by the Cambodian Microfinance Association in partnership with Board Stewardship. The event featured opening remarks by Yannick Milev, Board Member, CMA, who delivered the opening speech welcoming participants and outlining the workshop’s purpose, which aims to address board stewardship during economic uncertainty, governance beyond compliance, crisis leadership, and AI governance from a board perspective. He also highlighted the importance of strong leadership and governance in the financial sector amidst economic challenges and technological advancements.
The session explored how Boards and leadership teams can strengthen institutional resilience and governance while responding to economic uncertainty, accelerating technological change and the growing adoption of Artificial Intelligence.
Shailesh Haribhakti, Chairman – Board Stewardship, reflected on major developments in science, technology and economics and their implications for institutions over the coming years. Drawing on recent global advances, he emphasized the importance of remaining adaptive, building institutional capability and balancing innovation with resilience and sustainable development.
Vikesh Wallia, Managing Director – Board Stewardship, introduced Board Stewardship’s mission of enabling future-ready Boards grounded in stewardship values. He highlighted the need for Boards to look beyond traditional shareholder considerations and balance the interests of investors, customers, employees, suppliers, society and the environment. He also outlined Board Stewardship’s work across research, knowledge sharing, capability building and professional networks, and expressed interest in deeper collaboration with Cambodia’s financial sector.
Dr. Rajiv Yadav, Global Thought Leader – Board Stewardship, addressed Board readiness for AI and introduced STEWARD-AI™, a Board-centric framework spanning Strategy, Trust, Ethics, Workforce, Accountability, Risk, Data and Innovation. The framework is designed to help Boards ask structured questions, assess AI governance readiness, identify gaps and translate findings into governance priorities and action plans.
Practical examples from Cambodia, Singapore and India illustrated how AI is influencing financial decision-making, credit processes and regulatory thinking. The discussion highlighted that while regulatory environments differ, core governance principles around trust, accountability, data privacy, explainability, human oversight and responsible innovation remain relevant across markets.
The interactive Q&A included questions on data privacy and applying AI governance across different regulatory environments. The webinar concluded with a discussion on continued knowledge sharing, future programmes and opportunities for deeper collaboration between CMA and Board Stewardship.
Nuth Theng, Head of the Training Department at CMA, concluded by saying that they look forward to organising more sessions to introduce Board Stewardship and its relationship with AI readiness to the Cambodian financial sector.
