The International Monetary Fund has looked into the Swiss financial market as part of its annual review and suggested that the regulator should become more active.
Finma, the banking regulator, ought to control the Swiss banking industry more closely, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reported «Bloomberg» on Monday.
The Washington-based body concluded the rule that allows banks to hire auditors for regulatory investigations raised concern. There were relatively few such firms available and they also sold advisory services to the banks, putting a question mark over their independence.
More Direct Inspections
The fund instead urges Finma to contract and pay such audit firms directly and to also conduct inspections of banks itself.
The IMF furthermore questioned whether Finma was large enough to control the Swiss financial market effectively. Finma has some 500 members of staff.
«I wouldn’t say it’s too small but we’ve called for additional resources to meet it’s growing mandate,» said IMF adviser Paul Mathieu according to «Bloomberg».
