People Moves
Swiss Regulator Names Ex-ECB Figure As New Chief Executive
The new chief will lead the regulator almost a year after the UBS-Credit Suisse merger, and as Switzerland continues to develop rules for digital assets, and watches to see how its new rules for external asset managers pan out.
The
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has named a
former European Central Bank senior figure, Stefan Walter, as new
chief executive. He is taking over the role from interim CEO
Birgit Rutishauser.
The previous full-time CEO, Urban Angehrn, left the job last year
because the stress of handling the Credit Suisse crisis
had affected
his health.
Rutishauser will remain FINMA’s interim CEO until 31
March; Walter will take up the role from the following
date.
Walter, who has also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, comes into FINMA
at a time when Switzerland has ended up with just one universal
bank following last year’s "shotgun wedding" between UBS and
Credit Suisse. Last year, new rules governing external asset
managers also took force. The country is also continuing to
wrestle with how to best regulate the digital
assets/cryptos space.
Walter, a German national, has been ECB director general since
2014. Initially, he supervised systemically important
eurozone banks and led that division for six years. From 2020 he
was responsible for horizontal risk supervision at the ECB. This
encompassed all categories of risk, in particular credit and
liquidity risks, as well as developing and conducting stress
tests.
Before his time at the ECB, Walter was global bank regulatory and
supervisory policy network leader for EY for two years. Walter
has also served in various roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York.
“FINMA is gaining an experienced leader in Stefan Walter with a
wealth of international financial market experience in banking
supervision,” Marlene Amstad, chair of FINMA’s board of
directors, said. “Particularly, his knowledge in the area of
large bank supervision and his links to international supervisory
authorities will be a great asset for FINMA’s supervision of the
systemically important Swiss banks.”
The appointment puts Walter in charge of an organisation
employing an average of 549 employees, across 478 temporary
and permanent full-time equivalent positions, according to
figures from 2020 (the last time FINMA updated this figure).
FINMA headquarters in Berne.