The Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has appointed Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart as the new Head of the Insurance division. The qualified mathematician and actuary has over 25 years of management experience in the insurance sector and will take up her position on 1 April 2026. She succeeds Birgit Rutishauser, who left FINMA in April 2025.
FINMA’s Board of Directors has appointed Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart as Head of the Insurance division and member of the Executive Board. She will take up her new role on 1 April 2026, succeeding Birgit Rutishauser, who left FINMA in April 2025 (Press release). The division has since been headed on an ad interim basis by Vera Carspecken, who will gradually hand over the business and will remain at FINMA after the transitional phase.
Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart, who is 54 and a native of Austria, has many years of management experience in the Swiss insurance sector. She is moving to FINMA from Helvetia Insurance Switzerland, where she most recently held the position of Head of Pension Provision Switzerland and member of the Executive Management. Prior to that she was head of Life Actuarial Switzerland there. Another important step in her career was Swiss Life, where she was responsible among other things for sales and margin management, and prior to that, she was head of actuarial and risk management for Switzerland. She also worked at the chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut where she was head of group risk management. Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart studied mathematics at ETH Zurich and trained as an actuary.
Commenting on the appointment, FINMA CEO Stefan Walter says: “In Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart we have recruited an insurance expert with a wealth of experience and a manager with a proven track record for FINMA’s ambitious future development. She combines a high level of strategic acumen and actuarial expertise with a values-based leadership style and strong links to organisations and authorities. We warmly welcome Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart to the Executive Board and look forward to working with her. I would also like to thank Vera Carspecken for successfully heading up the Insurance division on an ad interim basis.”
