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Document Type

Lessons Learned

Abstract

Mark Branson joined the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) as head of the banking division in 2010, during the European Sovereign Debt Crisis. He became deputy director of FINMA in 2013 and was named director a year later. Although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union (EU) or its banking union, the nation participates in bilateral agreements that govern trade with the EU, its largest trading partner. In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), it enacted a number of regulations to improve oversight of the financial sector. Branson left FINMA in 2021 to become head of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFin). Then–Finance Minister Olaf Scholtz (later Germany’s chancellor) charged Branson with giving BaFin “more bite” and restoring trust in German financial supervision.

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