Who is FINMA?

As the independent and integrated authority of one of the most important global financial centres, FINMA is responsible for the supervision of a very large and diverse population of financial institutions.

Effektive und effiziente Finanzmarktaufsicht

FINMA’s legal mandate encompasses the protection of creditors, investors, and insurance policyholders as well as protecting the functioning of the financial markets, which also helps to strengthen the reputation, competitiveness and sustainability of the Swiss financial centre.

As such, FINMA’s responsibility is wide-ranging. It encompasses strengthening the resilience of the supervised institutions, client protection, market integrity, and preventing money laundering.

Those who want to accept or manage clients’ money, offer insurance policies, set up a fund or enter the Swiss financial market in any other way, will need to be authorised or registered by FINMA depending on the activity. The statutory requirements and level of supervision depend on the type of authorisation.

FINMA is responsible for the supervision of around 250 banks, 195 insurance companies, 450 institutions and 2,000 products in the area of collective investment schemes, 1,600 asset managers and almost 10,000 insurance intermediaries. It is therefore responsible for the supervision of one of the world’s largest financial centres, which in turn accounts for a substantial part of the Swiss economy. FINMA is financed entirely by the institutions it supervises.