FINMA

FINMA publishes lists of the institutions, persons and products it has authorized, among them banks and securities firms, holders of the fintech license, insurers and Swiss investment funds. A search field shows whether a company or a fund holds a license. FINMA notes that a newly authorized firm may be missing from the list for a while, and that a firm may still appear after it has lost its license.

A separate warning list names companies and individuals that may be operating without the required FINMA authorization. Financial intermediaries without prudential supervision, for example wallet providers and firms that trade virtual currencies for clients, must join a self-regulatory organization recognized by FINMA, and the member lists of these organizations show whether a firm is affiliated.

Under Article 1b of the Banking Act, the fintech license lets a firm accept public deposits of up to CHF 100 million or hold crypto-based assets in collective custody, as long as it neither invests these deposits nor pays interest on them. A firm that accepts deposits from more than 20 clients beyond these limits needs a full banking license, and FINMA lists the holders of both licenses in its register.

On 22 October 2025 the Federal Council opened a consultation on an amendment to the Financial Institutions Act that would replace the fintech license with a license for payment instrument institutions and add a license for crypto institutions. Payment instrument institutions could issue a special type of stablecoin, their client funds would be segregated in a bankruptcy, and the cap of CHF 100 million would fall away. The consultation ran until 6 February 2026, and the Federal Council planned to send its dispatch to Parliament in the second half of 2026 at the earliest.

In Guidance 06/2024 of 26 July 2024, FINMA describes the risks of stablecoins issued in Switzerland. Several issuers use default guarantees from banks, which spares them a banking license, so they only have to join a self-regulatory organization as a financial intermediary. FINMA sets minimum conditions for such guarantees, for example a direct claim of every holder against the guaranteeing bank, and it expects the identity of every holder to be verified.

The guidance adds that holders of a guaranteed stablecoin do not get the deposit protection of the Banking Act. FINMA also points to higher risks of money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion with stablecoins. In the EU, stablecoin regulation follows MiCA, which does not apply in Switzerland.

The DLT Act entered into force on 1 August 2021 and created the DLT trading facility, a financial market infrastructure for the multilateral trading of DLT securities that are held and transferred on a blockchain. On 18 March 2025 FINMA licensed the first DLT trading facility, run by BX Digital AG, a sister company of the BX Swiss exchange in the Boerse Stuttgart Group.

BX Digital settles trades on the public Ethereum blockchain and receives payments through the Swiss Interbank Clearing system, which runs on behalf of the Swiss National Bank. A smart contract delivers the securities against payment, and only supervised participants, usually banks, can use the facility. FINMA required a business continuity strategy for the public blockchain and technical checks of the smart contract code.

On 18 December 2024 FINMA published Guidance 08/2024 on governance and risk management when using artificial intelligence. It names model risks such as incorrect or unexplainable results and bias, along with data risks, cyber risks and a growing dependence on third parties. FINMA found that most financial institutions were still at an early stage and were only building their governance and risk management for AI.

Stefan Walter has been chief executive of FINMA since 1 April 2024, after ten years as director general at the European Central Bank. Before that he was secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and held management positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Patric Eymann, head of the enforcement division, has been interim deputy chief executive since 1 May 2025.

Marlene Amstad, a professor at the University of Bern, has chaired the board of directors since 1 January 2021. The board has seven to nine independent members elected by the Federal Council, sets the strategy of FINMA and elects the chief executive, whose appointment the Federal Council confirms.

The head office of FINMA is at Laupenstrasse 27 in 3003 Bern, and the switchboard answers on +41 31 327 91 00. The Zurich office is at Wasserwerkstrasse 12 in 8006 Zurich, where the welcome desk is open from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

FINMA accepts complaints and tip-offs about supervised institutions through a report form, but it does not arbitrate disputes or give legal advice. People who report a problem have no rights as a party and are not informed about the proceedings.