The Buck Stops Here: Director Expertise at the Big Four

In the quest to figure out what went wrong to cause the financial crisis, and what can be done to prevent another one, makeup of bank boards and the qualifications of individual directors have come under an unprecedented level of scrutiny.

This especially has been the case for the largest banks, which were roundly criticized for operating with a degree of complexity that even the most seasoned directors would have been hard-pressed to understand. (Another criticism was that their boards weren't seasoned enough when it came to grasping the more sophisticated products and markets in which the companies were engaged.)

There was heavy board-level turnover at Bank of America and Citigroup after their near-death experiences; the average tenure for their current directors is about half that for the boards at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Both BofA's and Citi's boards are now packed with veterans of finance and government, like Citi's new chairman, former Bank of Hawaii CEO Michael O'Neill, and BofA director Donald Powell, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Captains of old-line industries, like former Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, a director at JPMorgan Chase, make up the third largest contingent among the Big Four.

If any deficiencies in expertise exist, board members can always share notes: several directors on the boards of big banks serve together on the boards of other large companies such as Walt Disney and Sara Lee.