On 13 November 2024, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced its strategic goals for the period from 2025 to 2028. The announcement, approved by the Swiss Federal Council, outlines FINMA’s long-term priorities and provides guidance on how it will fulfil its legal mandate. The four strategic goals focus on supervision, resilience, framework conditions, and organisational development, reflecting FINMA’s commitment to enhancing its effectiveness and efficiency as a supervisory authority.
The purpose of FINMA’s supervisory activities is to protect depositors, insured persons, and clients while ensuring the proper functioning of the Swiss financial markets. The strategic goals are designed to address ongoing developments and challenges in the financial sector, particularly those associated with financial and operational risks.
The Federal Council approved FINMA’s strategic goals on 13 November 2024, granting the authority a clear direction for the next four years.
Goal 1: Preventive Supervision and Integrity: FINMA will continue to prioritise preventive supervision to foster trust in Switzerland’s financial sector and promote long-term stability. The authority plans to:
- Refine its supervisory instruments, procedures, and analyses to ensure swift identification and rectification of irregularities within the framework of supervisory law.
- Require supervised institutions to maintain sound governance and robust risk management processes.
- Review and refine its supervisory approach for UBS, focusing on the risks linked to its systemic importance.
- Strengthen oversight to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations, as well as conduct requirements under the Financial Services Act.
- FINMA views market integrity as a cornerstone of Switzerland’s financial reputation and aims to uphold this standard across all supervised institutions.
Goal 2: Financial and Operational Resilience: FINMA will place strong emphasis on the financial resilience of supervised institutions, paying particular attention to their ability to manage market risks, credit risks, liquidity risks, and actuarial risks. Specific objectives include:
- Ensuring institutions maintain sufficient capital and liquidity buffers to withstand severe financial shocks.
- Focusing on operational resilience, especially risks associated with service outsourcing, over-reliance on single service providers, and cyber threats.
- Requiring institutions with potential systemic impacts to demonstrate robust crisis preparedness and resilience.
Goal 3: Framework Conditions for Effective Supervision: FINMA will actively contribute to developing robust regulatory frameworks that enhance its supervisory capabilities. Its efforts will include:
- Advocating for framework conditions that enable effective supervision and early intervention in supervised institutions.
- Supporting technological advancements in the financial market while ensuring a secure and transparent supervisory environment.
- Implementing regulation in a technology-neutral manner to balance innovation with risk management.
Goal 4: Organisational Efficiency and Development: FINMA will prioritise enhancing its internal organisation to maximise efficiency and effectiveness. Key initiatives include:
- Increasing the proportion of direct supervision, including on-site reviews, where legally empowered to do so.
- Strengthening internal synergies and advancing its digital transformation for sustainable organisational development.
- Improving resource allocation to ensure robust supervision with minimal waste.
- Promoting transparent communication by actively reporting on its activities and the fulfilment of its mandate.
These provide long-term guidance for the authority. The four goals relate to the areas of supervision, resilience, framework conditions and organisation. They reveal how the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority will fulfil its legal mandate in the future. FINMA is continuously increasing its effectiveness and efficiency as a supervisory authority. The Federal Council approved FINMA’s strategic goals today.
(Source: https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2024/11/20241113-mm-strategische-ziele-finma/, https://www.finma.ch/en/~/media/finma/dokumente/dokumentencenter/myfinma/finma-publikationen/strategische-ziele/20241113-strategische_ziele_der_finma_2025-2028.pdf?sc_lang=en&hash=BDB18DC12C553860E7088FD6607E2CA7)
