Prevention
Wherever possible, FINMA uses its supervisory tools to achieve preventive supervision. During the year under review, it not only reorganised itself but also, for example, continued to develop its rating systems and supervisory methods in areas such as governance and business model analysis, strengthened its risk analysis and deepened cooperation between supervision and enforcement.
To make its supervision even more effective, FINMA carried out an internal reorganisation in the spring of 2025. This included setting up the new Integrated Risk Expertise division. This new division supports the supervisory departments with integrated risk and data analysis and assists in FINMA-wide planning and implementation of in-depth on-site inspections. The new structure supports direct preventive supervision and, by improving internal cooperation, is helping to make FINMA operate more efficiently. The supervised institutions have retained their usual contact persons at FINMA.
On-site inspections are a particularly effective tool for identifying risks at an early stage. By pooling its expertise as part of the aforementioned reorganisation, FINMA strengthened the impact of this important tool during the year under review and promoted proactive, direct supervision of supervised institutions. FINMA is now also able to make more effective comparisons between different supervised entities and provide institutions with timely feedback on the observed range of practice.
In 2025, 113 on-site inspections were carried out in the banking sector (111 in 2024), the majority of which were at large and high-risk institutions in supervisory categories 1 to 3. Since FINMA adopts a proportionate approach, on-site inspections were rare at smaller, well-managed banks. In the insurance sector, there were 43 inspections (57 in 2024), the majority of which were carried out at large supervised entities in supervisory categories 2 and 3. In addition, 20 on-site inspections were carried out in the area of asset management (the same number as in 2024) and 4 in the area of financial market infrastructures (3 in 2024).
One area of supervisory focus was combating money laundering in retail banking. FINMA addressed various weaknesses in transaction monitoring and defined measures to rectify them. FINMA also found that, in individual cases, institutions entered into client relationships that exceeded their risk appetite and whose risks or economic background were not sufficiently understood.
To recognise risks at supervised institutions earlier and understand market conduct better, FINMA continued to push ahead with data-driven, forward-looking supervision in the year under review. For example, it introduced its first sector-wide data survey in asset management and developed new tools to assess and analyse potential market manipulation.
In order to carry out its supervisory role even more effectively in future, FINMA needs appropriate powers and tools. In connection with the parameters for amendments to the Banking Act (TBTF), which the Federal Council published in June 2025, FINMA, in collaboration with the SIF, played an active role in shaping the future regulatory framework (see FINMA’s information sheets on this subject).