The Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has appointed Urban Angehrn as the authority’s new CEO. The Federal Council has approved this decision. Urban Angehrn will take up his new role on 1 November 2021. Jan Blöchliger will remain as FINMA’s CEO ad interim until this date.
Urban Angehrn will become FINMA’s CEO on 1 November 2021, thus succeeding Mark Branson, who left FINMA on 31 May 2021, and Jan Blöchliger, who is currently overseeing operations as interim CEO. The Board of Directors conducted an extensive search and evaluation before making the appointment. In accordance with the prescribed process, the Board of Directors’ decision was approved by the Federal Council.
“With the appointment of Urban Angehrn FINMA is gaining an experienced leader with broad national and international financial market experience in the insurance, banking and asset management industries. In addition, he is very familiar with topics of future relevance such as digitalisation and sustainability, which will shape the financial centre,” says Marlene Amstad, Chair of FINMA’s Board of Directors.
Urban Angehrn (56, Swiss citizen) is currently a member of the Executive Committee and Group Chief Investment Officer of Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zurich Life Insurance Company as well as serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Zurich Insurance Group Pension Plan. He has worked at Zurich for more than 14 years and previously held various roles at Winterthur, Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan. Urban Angehrn holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University and a Master of Science in theoretical physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). “I am looking forward to managing FINMA at the high level already achieved together with the Board of Directors and the Executive Board, and helping prepare the financial centre for topics of future relevance,” says Urban Angehrn.
Jan Blöchliger will remain as CEO ad interim until 31 October 2021. Marlene Amstad emphasises: “On behalf of the entire Board of Directors I would like to thank Jan Blöchliger for his excellent work as CEO ad interim, as well as the entire Executive Board for their great commitment to continuing operations during this transitional period.”
Contact
Vinzenz Mathys, Spokesperson
Tel. +41 31 327 19 77
vinzenz.mathys@finma.ch
