The Swiss government refreshed the financial regulator's board with private sector veterans of insurance and banking.
The government is appointing Alberto Franceschetti and Marzio Hug to the board of Finma, the Swiss financial regulator, from January, it said in a statement on Wednesday. They replace Bernard Keller and Franz Wipfli, who are 68 and 70 years old, respectively.
Private Sector Boost
The appointments represent a massive boost to the private sector expertise on Finma's board, where Marlene Amstad took over in January. Zurich Insurance veteran Urban Angehrn is taking over as CEO in November 1, for ex-CEO Mark Branson, who moved to Germany's Bafin.
Franceschetti, a 57-year-old Swiss and Italian citizen, is a former partner at McKinsey and Bain. He was a finance chief at Elipslife, a Liechtenstein-based life insurer, until last year. The 60-year-old Hug, who is Swiss, British, and Italian was risk chief of Deutsche Bank in the wider European region as well as asset management until March.
Conflicts Of Interest
Both men maintain ties to Italian-speaking Switzerland, which complements Finma's existing board well. They will serve out a term of office until 2023, the regulator said in a separate statement.
The government said it also imposed additional requirements of Finma board members, in a bid to preempt conflicts of interest. In 2014, Finma director Jean-Baptiste Zufferey stepped down after a Swiss bank he also sat on the board of, Banque Privee Espirito Santo SA, ran into trouble.
