Protection

In 2025, FINMA stepped up its client protection measures on several fronts. For example, in the area of asset management, it placed an increasing number of institutions under more intensive supervision. As part of its efforts to combat greenwashing, FINMA ensured that investors were not misled. For example, it enforced the disclosure of minimum sustainability information for new approvals and changes to Swiss funds making reference to sustainability.

In the supplementary health insurance sector, FINMA ensured once again in the year under review that there were only moderate premium adjustments and, in several cases, premium reductions. In the cantons of Geneva and Vaud, pressure from FINMA also led to agreements being reached between supplementary health insurers and certain clinics, while in other cases the billing of unjustified benefits was prevented in order to protect policyholders.

FINMA has also brought about numerous improvements to client protection in the supervision of intermediaries. It informed insurance intermediaries and their clients about the requirements that have applied to insurance intermediaries since 2024, such as the obligation to have an entry in FINMA’s public register. In the year under review, FINMA refused numerous applications for registration from unqualified intermediaries. It also received hundreds of reports of potential misconduct, such as cases of incorrect advice, launched further investigations in 271 cases, and removed various intermediaries from the public register.

In the area of cryptocurrencies, too, FINMA sought to protect clients in relation to the purchase, trading and transfer of cryptocurrencies during the year under review. Accordingly, it supported the envisaged amendment of the law to guarantee effective protection for creditors and investors. It also sought to ensure that FINMA-supervised institutions offering such crypto services appropriately identify and mitigate the associated operational risks, in particular those associated with the custody of cryptobased assets.

During on-site inspections in the banking and asset management sectors, FINMA often found that, when offering illiquid, risky investments, clients’ risk capacity and risk appetite were not adequately assessed. FINMA took decisive action in response to these and other breaches of the rules of conduct governing the honest, diligent and transparent provision of financial services in accordance with the Financial Services Act (FinSA).

FINMA’s commitment to protecting financial market clients is impressively reflected by the fact that it concluded 55 enforcement proceedings in the year under review. FINMA also took action specifically in the area of unauthorised financial market activities. Based on information from the public, authorities and its supervisory activities, it opened around 450 investigations into potentially unauthorised companies and individuals. In order to protect clients, FINMA restored compliance with the law or initiated further proceedings. It also made over 300 entries on its warning list, warning investors of potentially unauthorised financial market providers, which is a record high.

FINMA licensed Switzerland’s first DLT trading facility in the year under review. FINMA has already received around 30 licence applications from FinTech companies and replied to dozens of preliminary questions in this connection. The applications primarily concerned payment services in fiat money and only in very few cases services involving crypto custody.

FINMA replied to 75 authorisation enquiries about projects in the area of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto in 2025. As in 2024, it responded to such authorisation enquiries in under 30 days on average.