Financial market in Switzerland: overview

If we compare the Swiss emporium to worldwide comparison, today’s country is one of the leading and most emulative financial centres on the Earth. Approximately a quarter of the world’s transnational assets are managed by Swiss financial institutions. The Swiss financial market center is also a leader in trade finance and one of the most important insurance and reinsurance centers in the world. As a result, banks and insurance businesses are represented here in large numbers. Two Swiss cities – Zurich and Geneva – are among the most influential international centers. The third most important financial platform in Switzerland is Lugano. Financial markets authority Switzerland, whose share in GDP is about 10%, is one of the pillars of the Swiss economy.

Management of the country uses international standards for taxation, anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, as well as standards for maintaining the stability of the financial market in Switzerland. At the same time, the country has created such a legal and regulatory environment that allows the monetary center to offer high-quality products and  favors and be considered innovative. Thus, for companies operating in the field of monetary technologies, barriers to entry into the emporium have been reduced.

The Swiss Stock Exchange

The Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX) is located in Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland. It is the largest of the two Swiss stock exchanges and is considered the main stock exchange in the country. The exchange prides itself on being innovative and using the most advanced monetary technologies, which has allowed it to become one of the world’s major monetary centers. The exchange features reliable, globally active business traded by the Swiss financial market supervisory authority, such as Nestle, Logitech, The Credit Suisse Group, Novartis and The Adecco Group.

The main index of this exchange is the Swiss Market Index (SMI), which is the most important in the country and represents the 20 largest and most liquid businesses with large and medium capitalization. SIX was one of the first exchanges to launch electronic trading and completely ended physical trading in 1996. In addition to stocks, other securities such as administration bonds and options are also listed on the exchange. Together with Deutsche Boerse, SIX was at the forefront of Eurex, the derivatives exchange, which is now the third largest in the world.

Banks and insurance companies

Banks, insurance companies and pension funds in Swiss together offer more than 200,000 full-time equivalent jobs and generate almost 10% of gross domestic product. As an international leader in asset management, the financial sector also provides the economy and the public with loans and Swiss financial market services.

Security companies and banks are one of the pillars of the Swiss economy: In equal shares, they produce almost 10% of the gross domestic product of S. In 2020, the value added of the financial sector was about 68 billion francs, and the number of workers in terms of full-time equivalent was about 208,800 people. The powerful export monetary center accounted for 24% of exports in 2019.

Financial market supervision act Switzerland is one of the most important world monetary centers. At the end of 2019, the Swiss banking sector was the leader in global transnational asset management with a 25% share. As of 2019, Swiss banks managed assets of 7.893 trillion francs, with half of them owned by foreign clients.

The two largest banks make up half of the Swiss emporium

As of 2019, there were approximately 246 banks in Swiss. Two large international banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, hold about 50% of the market. The rest of the market (50%) is mainly divided between 24 cantonal banks, foreign banks, Raiffeisen banks, exchange banks, regional banks, savings banks and private banks. In addition to contributing directly to value-added, the diverse and regionally linked Swiss banking center provides an efficient base for the national economy and offers loans and other Swiss financial market  favors to the public.

Swiss insurance companies receive three quarters of insurance premiums abroad.

Insurance companies received more than 240 billion Swiss francs in insurance premiums in 2019, about 78% of which came from abroad. The capital-intensive industry makes an important contribution to the economic cycle, both as a taxpayer and as an investor, with almost 570 billion francs invested in Swiss in 2019.

Swiss financial market authorities include almost 200 insurance companies in Swiss 6 are large corporations. The largest private insurer in Swiss is Zurich Insurance Group, followed by Chubb, SwissRe and Swiss Life.

Monetary and market policy

A stable, functional and competitive worldwide financial sector is an important pillar of the Swiss economy. Financial market authority Switzerland ensures optimal operating conditions for its monetary center now and in the future.

A strong monetary center is critical to the Swiss economy and its worldwide position. The Federal Council supports the sector with a sound and dynamic monetary emporium policy. In doing so, it develops standard conditions in the monetary emporium sector in such a way that national and worldwide clients can receive a wide range of high quality services.

Switzerland’s financial market policy builds on its traditional strengths, such as high performance, stability, security and trust. The financial center must continue to exist at the worldwide level in the future and at the same time meet the needs of the population. Openness to new technological and global developments and the desire to increase global competitiveness are also needed now.