The Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Karin Keller-Sutter, has appointed the Basel professor of economics Yvan Lengwiler as the new president of the group of experts on banking stability. Mr Lengwiler replaces Jean Studer, former President of the Bank Council of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), in this role.

Jean Studer had informed Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter that he wished to stand down as president for professional reasons unrelated to his work in the in group of experts. Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter agreed to Jean Studer's request with regret and thanked him for his work.

Renowned expert in financial market regulation

Yvan Lengwiler now replaces Jean Studer. As professor of economics at the University of Basel, he is a renowned expert in the field of financial market regulation and monetary policy, and has enjoyed a career which spans a number of positions, including as a member of the FINMA Board of Directors.

Rudolf Sigg has also joined the group of experts. He was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the Executive Board of Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) for 14 years until the end of March 2023. He brings with him a total of 45 years of experience at this systemically important cantonal bank.

At the end of March 2023, the Federal Council decided to review the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS and assess the too-big-to-fail regulatory framework. It based its decision on Article 52 of the Banking Act, according to which it is required to report regularly on systemically important banks. The next such report is due to be presented by the beginning of April 2024. As part of that report, the Federal Council will also complete various audit tasks in connection with the events surrounding the takeover of Credit Suisse, which Parliament assigned to the Federal Council by means of postulates. The convening of the external group of experts is a result of these decisions.

Broad-based group of experts

The objective of the group of experts on banking stability is to evaluate strategic considerations on the role of banks and the framework conditions at federal level with regard to the stability of the Swiss financial centre, and to present the FDF with a report containing its findings by mid-August 2023. This report will form the basis for the report on systemically important banks in accordance with Article 52 of the Banking Act, and for the postulates mentioned. The group of experts is free to set its own priorities, while taking into account any clarifications and investigations by the overall parliamentary supervisory bodies.

The expert group is broadly based. It is comprised of representatives from academia, banking and economics. The specific composition of the group of experts is as follows:

Yvan Lengwiler (president) - Professor of Economics at the University of Basel, specialising in financial market regulation and monetary policy, and former member of the FINMA Board of Directors
Mirjam Eggen - Professor of Private Law at the University of Bern and expert in financial market law
Rudolf Sigg - former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the Executive Board of Zürcher Kantonalbank
Eva Hüpkes - Head of Regulatory and Supervisory Policies at the Financial Stability Board and lecturer in international business law at the University of Zurich
Eva Jaisli - CEO of PB Swiss Tools AG and member of the Executive Committee at Swissmem
Beatrice Weder di Mauro - Professor of International Economics, Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), Visiting Professor at INSEAD Singapore, President of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and former member of the UBS Board of Directors
Hans Gersbach - Professor of Macroeconomics at the ETH Zurich and former Head of the Board of Academic Advisors to Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Renaud de Planta - Senior Partner at Pictet Group

The group of experts will consult further experts and business representatives. The group will also be able to refer to Professor Manuel Ammann's expert report, which was commissioned by the FDF at the end of March 2023 and is now available.

Group of experts on banking stability now under leadership of Yvan Lengwiler