Market developments among banks and securities firms
The situation among institutions supervised by FINMA remained stable in 2025 despite the challenges. In this uncertain environment, FINMA increased the intensity of its supervision, thereby strengthening the stability of the financial market. It supervised financial market participants on a risk-oriented and proportionate basis.
The profitability of Swiss banks remained stable despite the headwinds in the interest rate business. The retail and wealth management banks were able to almost offset the decline in interest income in 2024 with an overall increase in income from commission and trading. The interim financial statements for 2025 did not present a uniform picture. Profitability rose at some banks in the first half of the year, while it fell at others.
After a slight increase in 2023, wealth management banks were able to increase their assets under management again in 2024. This was thanks to the positive performance of the stock markets and slightly positive net inflows. This had a positive impact on the commission and services businesses. These trends continued in the first half of 2025. Securities firms altogether increased their overall gross income in 2024 in particular due to good commission and trading results. However, because operating expenses rose more strongly than gross operating profit, the cost-income ratio deteriorated slightly.
The growth of loans to customers by retail banks increased again in 2024, following a slowdown in 2023. The growth of mortgage loans rose slightly in 2024 compared to 2023 but remained well below the growth rate of 2022. In the first half of 2025, financial assets, mortgage loans and liquid assets rose moderately across all bank categories, while amounts due from banks and customers as well as trading positions fell, in some cases significantly.
New licences and market exits at banks and securities firms
As in previous years, a large number of licensing projects were submitted to FINMA for a preliminary review. This enabled the applicants to receive a rapid initial assessment of the chances of obtaining a licence. In addition, there was increasing market consolidation, as evidenced by a comparatively high number of mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions. Most such cases involve banks in supervisory category 3 acquiring smaller institutions in supervisory categories 4 and 5 from the private banking and wealth management sectors. M&A transactions are generally subject to a prior authorisation requirement by FINMA, meaning that it must be involved in the process at an early stage.
In 2025, FINMA authorised an owner-managed securities firm trading for the account of clients and a branch of a foreign bank. The securities firm is an asset manager approved by FINMA that integrated its previously outsourced custodian bank activities into its purely digital offering for Swiss retail customers. The newly licensed branch was the result of a restructuring project by a French banking group.
