Core Tools
Infrastructure
Product previews
From zero to regulator-ready
See how ComplyBridge walks you through a full MiCA CASP application — from entity setup to final submission package.
See how it works →The only AI that knows your firm
Reasons across the live EU rulebook and your own policies, KYB data, UBOs, and integrations.
Explore capabilities →Switzerland · Non-EU
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority
FINMA · Financial supervisory authorityActive
Employees
698
· avg FTE, permanent + temporaryFY2025
Annual budget
CHF 172m (~€185m)
· operating costsFY2025
Supervised entities
~1,600
2024
Overview
FINMA is Switzerland's integrated financial market supervisor, overseeing banks, insurers, financial market infrastructures and asset managers from Bern — including UBS, the country's sole remaining global systemically important bank. It runs a distinctive dual-track model: alongside its own supervision, it mandates private audit firms as an extended arm, though in 2025 it began shifting toward more of its own on-site inspections — 176 across banks, insurance and asset management, 42 of them at UBS alone. It licensed Switzerland's first DLT trading facility during the year and concluded 55 enforcement proceedings, while adding a record 300-plus entries to its public warning list. Everything below is FINMA's own data, from its FY2025 annual report.
Regulated sectors
Leadership
- Marlene AmstadChair of the Board of Directors · since 2021
- Stefan WalterChief Executive Officer · since 2024
Figures as published by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority for FY2025. Source: FINMA Annual Report 2025 (Published 21 April 2026). Data as of 31 December 2025. Supplementary: FINMA annual media conference 2026 — press release (21 Apr 2026).
Organisation (FY2025)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Staff — average FTE (permanent + temporary) | 698 2024: 634 — reorganised internally in spring 2025 to intensify forward-looking supervision |
| Staff — average permanent FTE | 617 2024: 554 |
| Approved headcount limit | 734.7 permanent FTE +121.1 vs 2024's 613.6; most new roles filled by year-end |
| Operating costs | CHF 172m (~€185m) 2024: CHF 154m; fully covered by supervisory fees and levies — no taxpayer funding |
| Staff turnover | 6.8% Within FINMA's 6–10% target range |
| Women in workforce | 43.2% |
Supervisory activity 2025
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| On-site inspections | 176 113 banks (42 at UBS) · 43 insurers · 20 asset management |
| Enforcement proceedings concluded | 55 Calendar-year basis; FINMA has no power to impose fines |
| Investigations into potentially unauthorised activity | ~450 |
| New warning-list entries | 300+ Record high |
| Enforcement proceedings launched at banks (from deep dives) | 15 |
| Institution-specific capital add-ons imposed | 14 cases |
| Business-activity restrictions incl. takeover bans | 7 cases |
| Insurance intermediaries supervised | ~10,000 Registered intermediaries — separate from prudentially supervised institutions |
| Investigations into insurance intermediaries | 271 |
Notable 2025
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| First DLT trading facility licensed | A first under the Swiss DLT Act (2021) — Switzerland's inaugural DLT trading facility authorisation. |
| No fining power | FINMA has publicly advocated for fining powers, a senior-managers accountability regime, and the right to communicate on concluded proceedings — in line with the Federal Council's TBTF report and parliamentary recommendations after the Credit Suisse crisis. |
| Dual audit-firm model shifting | FINMA is deliberately conducting more of its own inspections and deploying private audit firms on a more risk-based footing — new standardised ICT/BCM/cyber reporting agreed with EXPERTsuisse from 2026. |
| Compliance restored in ~3 months | In roughly 90% of enforcement investigations, compliance is restored within about three months. |
| Cyber concentration risk | Nearly half of all cyberattacks reported by supervised institutions in 2025 targeted service providers and outsourcing partners. |
How Switzerland regulates
No sectoral licences — an activity-based ladder. Switzerland has no equivalent of PSD2, EMD, or MiCA. Payment and crypto businesses are regulated by what they do: firms that do not hold client funds in a deposit-like way are financial intermediaries under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, supervised via membership of a FINMA-recognised Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) such as VQF or PolyReg — often without any FINMA licence at all. Holding public funds moves a firm up the ladder: the fintech licence (Banking Act Art. 1b — deposits up to CHF 100M (~€106M), no interest paid) or a full banking licence. Trading venues for tokenised securities require a DLT trading facility licence under the FMIA, token classification follows FINMA's payment / utility / asset taxonomy, and stablecoins are assessed case by case under FINMA's 2019 guidance. Systemically important payment systems are overseen by the Swiss National Bank.
Key legislation
FINMASA
Financial Market Supervision Act — statutory objectives: protection of creditors, investors and policyholders; proper functioning of markets
Banking Act (BankA)
Banking
FinIA / FinSA
Investment services + financial market infrastructure
DLT Act 2021
Distributed ledger / crypto infrastructure
Public registers
Application portals
Recent publications
- FINMA Annual Report 2025
2026-04-21