The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is publishing a risk monitor this year for the first time. This report provides an overview of what FINMA believes are the most important risks currently facing supervised institutions and describes the resulting focus of its supervisory activity.
FINMA is publishing its new report, the risk monitor, for the first time. It provides an overview of what FINMA believes are the most important risks currently facing supervised institutions. Furthermore, each report will highlight one selected trend with the potential to impact on the Swiss financial market over the long term. The report will also describe the focus of FINMA’s supervisory activity on the basis of the risks.
Six principal risks identified
The six principal risks identified by FINMA for its supervised institutions and the Swiss financial centre:
- the persistent low interest-rate environment;
- a possible correction on the real estate and mortgage market, especially in the investment property segment;
- cyberattacks;
- a disorderly abolition of LIBOR benchmark interest rates;
- money laundering;
- increased impediments to cross-border market access, particularly in the EU.
The report also discusses the financial risks arising from climate change as one of the most important long-term risks identified by FINMA. Besides the risks highlighted in the risk monitor, FINMA also deals with numerous other more specific risks in its supervisory work.
Greater transparency about risk-oriented supervision
The main focus of FINMA’s work is the supervision of the financial sector. This is designed to ensure that the supervised financial institutions remain stable going forward, given the possible risks they are facing. Assessing the risk position of the whole sector as well as that of the supervised institutions is therefore a critical part of FINMA’s supervisory activity. This makes its supervisory focus essentially forward-looking. The risk monitor will create additional transparency both for supervised institutions and the wider public about how FINMA fulfils its statutory responsibilities. The monitor has previously only been used internally as part of a risk-assessment tool. It will appear on an annual basis from now on.
Contact
Tobias Lux, Media Spokesperson
Tel. 031 327 91 71
tobias.lux@finma.ch
Vinzenz Mathys, Media Spokesperson
Tel. 031 327 19 77
vinzenz.mathys@finma.ch
