SEC Thought Leadership & Dialogue
Shaping the Future of the Swiss Financial System
Finding the Golden Balance Between Regulation and Innovation
Switzerland’s financial centre is at a pivotal moment. How much regulation is needed to ensure stability — and how much freedom is required to avoid stifling innovation?
As part of the SEC Thought Leadership & Dialogue Series, we invite you to a high-level evening dedicated to exploring this very question.
Two distinguished experts will examine the topic from different yet complementary perspectives and engage in an open discussion with the audience on the future of Switzerland’s financial ecosystem.
High-Level Insights from Regulation and Think Tank Perspectives
Prof. Dr. Marlene Amstad, President of FINMA, will share key insights from past challenges and the most recent banking crisis in her keynote. She will provide an overview of current regulatory developments and illustrate how technological innovation is transforming financial markets and financial supervision.
Dr. Jürg Müller, Director of Avenir Suisse, will complement this view with a regulatory policy and economic perspective. He will place financial market regulation in a broader economic context and highlight opportunities and risks for Switzerland’s long-term competitiveness.
A concluding panel discussion will explore what a true “golden mix” between regulation and innovation could look like in practice — pragmatic, critical, and forward-looking.
Our Main Event Partner
Partners
WHEN:
25. February 2026
17:30 – 21:00
WHERE:
Zunfthaus zur Schmiden
Marktgasse 20, 8001 Zürich
Our Speakers
Prof. Dr. Marlene Amstad is President of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and one of the most prominent voices in international financial market regulation. She also serves as Chair of the IOSCO Sustainable Finance Task Force and supports more than 160 supervisory authorities worldwide in transformation processes.
Previously, she held senior positions at the Swiss National Bank, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Hong Kong, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Swiss Business Cycle Institute (KOF). With nearly two decades of international experience, she combines deep regulatory and economic expertise with strong strategic vision.
Dr. Jürg Müller is Director of Avenir Suisse, where he is responsible for the strategic direction and research agenda of Switzerland’s leading think tank. He studied International Relations and Economics at the Universities of St. Gallen and Cambridge.
Prior to joining Avenir Suisse, he worked as an economics editor at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). Writing under the pseudonym Jonathan McMillan, he published several widely acclaimed books on capitalism, financial markets, and banking regulation, including Capitalism and the Market Economy and The End of Banking. He is also a columnist for NZZ am Sonntag and a lecturer at the University of Zurich.
