The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is today announcing an adjustment to its organisation. It is creating a new cross-divisional function for “Integrated Risk Expertise” and merging the “Markets” and “Asset Management” divisions. The new structure will strengthen FINMA as an integrated supervisory authority, promote expertise in terms of financial and non-financial risks and support more intensified, direct supervision, in particular by allowing the authority to carry out more of its own on-site supervisory reviews. The new structure is effective from the beginning of April 2025.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is announcing today that it is adapting its organisational structure as of 1 April 2025 in order to fulfil its mandate to protect financial market clients and ensure the proper functioning of the financial markets even more effectively.
Specifically, a new “Integrated Risk Expertise” division (GB-I) will bring together the risk functions and cross-divisional topics (such as liquidity, capital and stress tests, credit risks, money laundering and sustainable finance), analysis and instruments, as well as on-site supervisory reviews. Pooling this knowledge will strengthen integrated supervision. The supervisory divisions will also be supported with in-depth expertise, primarily from FINMA’s own on-site supervisory reviews. Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé, previously Head of Asset Management, will lead this new division. Before joining FINMA in 2022, Marianne worked in risk management at various banks, most recently as Group Chief Risk Officer at Banque Cantonale de Genève for eight years.
Furthermore, the “Asset Management” and “Markets” divisions are being merged under the leadership of Léonard Bôle, so as to make the most of existing synergies. From 2009, Léonard Bôle held managerial roles in the combating of money laundering and from 2011 also in asset management. He has been a member of the Executive Board and Head of the Markets division since 1 April 2014 and is also responsible for the supervision of financial market infrastructures.
As further steps in the reorganisation, policy expertise is being centralised in the Supervisory Policy and Legal Expertise division (GB-S), all relevant aspects of digitalisation are being brought together in the Operations division (GB-O) and a FINMA Chief Risk Officer function is being created. The latter will coordinate and optimise the existing risk management processes in the business divisions.
The measures taken will allow more intensive and effective supervision to be achieved in the areas of banking, insurance and asset management.
Independently of the introduction of the new organisational structure, Birgit Rutishauser, member of the Executive Board, Deputy CEO and Head of the Insurance division, has decided to leave FINMA. Vera Carspecken will assume the leadership of the Insurance division on an interim basis from 1 May 2025 (see separate press release of 1 April 2025).
FINMA’s new organisation from 1 April 2025 will be as follows.
CEO Stefan Walter adds: “This new structure promotes our goal for FINMA of preventive supervision that achieves maximum impact at the supervised institutions while continuing to supervise them in a risk-based and proportionate manner. It will allow us to build on our strengths of professionalism, expertise and motivation. An integrated approach, intensive and direct supervision and an effective organisation are key prerequisites for our success.”
Marlene Amstad, Chair of the Board of Directors, says: “By taking this step, we are addressing the challenges that we will face as an integrated supervisory authority in the future. These include not only new realities in the banking sector, but also challenges for the entire Swiss financial centre such as non-financial risks and conduct issues, money laundering and cybercrime.”
The new organisational structure takes effect on 1 April 2025.
