Switzerland’s financial markets regulator Finma is expanding its administrative board, strengthening Asian expertise and adding insurance market knowhow.

The country’s Federal Council Friday named Marlene Amstad as vice-president of the administrative board, and appointed Martin Suter as a new member of the supervisory authority’s board.

49-year old Marlene Amstad, who joined the board in early 2016 and worked on its takeover panel, will replace current vice-president Philippe Egger whose Finma term of office expires at the end of 2018.

Swiss Life Schweiz Management Member

56-year-old Martin Suter (pictured below) served as finance head from 2006 to 2016 at Swiss life insurer Swiss Life Schweiz. The mathematician also also served as a banking consultant at Switzerland’s two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse. Suter presently runs a business in the IT sector, according to the media release.

Suter 500

His future colleague Marlene Amstad was a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and as a lecturer at the University of Bern. She began her career as an economist with Credit Suisse before switching to the Swiss National Bank where she rose to deputy director.

Close Ties to Asia

Amstad is a seasoned Asia expert, and the increasingly closer ties between the Swiss and rapidly growing Asian markets should benefit the Swiss regulator. She still spends time conducting research in Hong Kong und Tokio, and serves as vice-president on the Swiss Chamber of Commerce’s administrative board in Hong Kong.
Finma’s administrative board for 2018 is made up as follows:


• Thomas Bauer, President
• Marlene Amstad, Vice-President
• Bernard Keller
• Yvan Lengwiler
• Günter Pleines
• Renate Schwob
• Martin Suter
• Franz Wipfli