The Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has appointed Alain Girard as the new Head of its Banks division. The current Head of the Recovery and Resolution division will take up his new role on 1 April 2026. He succeeds Thomas Hirschi, who left FINMA at the end of August 2025. Simon Brönnimann, who oversaw the Banks division on an interim basis, will now assume leadership of the Recovery and Resolution division on an interim basis.
FINMA’s Board of Directors has appointed Alain Girard, currently responsible for the Recovery and Resolution division and a member of FINMA’s Executive Board, as Head of the Banks division following an extensive internal and external search process. Alain Girard will take up his new role on 1 April 2026. He succeeds Thomas Hirschi, who left FINMA on 31 August 2025 (press release). The division has since been managed on an interim basis by Simon Brönnimann, who will now gradually hand over the items of business and then assume leadership of the Recovery and Resolution division ad interim.
Alain Girard, 45, has led the Recovery and Resolution division since 2022. He was a member of the crisis unit that dealt with the Credit Suisse crisis, represents FINMA in the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Resolution Steering Group and is a member of the High-Level Task Force for Bail-in Execution. From 2019 to 2022, Alain Girard headed FINMA’s Supervision of Small Banks and Securities Firms section within the Banks division and played a key role in several regulatory projects, in particular the introduction of the small banks regime. Before joining FINMA in 2015, Alain Girard worked as a lawyer in Zurich.
Simon Brönnimann, who has headed the Banks division on an interim basis since September 2025, will now take over from Alain Girard as Head of Recovery and Resolution on an interim basis. Simon Brönnimann joined FINMA in 2007 and has since held various management positions in large and small bank supervision.
Commenting on the appointment, FINMA CEO Stefan Walter says: “We have an excellent internal replacement for the important role of Head of Banking Supervision in Alain Girard. This will enable work to continue smoothly in a turbulent and challenging time. Alain Girard is a strategically strong, senior leader with crisis experience and a large network, especially among supervisors worldwide. At the same time, I would like to thank Simon Brönnimann for his successful interim management of the Banks division and also for his willingness to lead the Recovery and Resolution division on an interim basis.”
