Operational management

SFMA’s Executive Board acts as a collective body which together assumes responsibility for operational business. Headed by the Chief Executive Officer, the body is tasked with making sure that financial market supervisory activities are performed in a legally-compliant, efficient and effective manner.

The Executive Board manages SFMA’s operating business. It ensures that the resolutions of the Board of Directors are implemented. It also prepares the necessary files and materials for decisions to be taken by the Board of Directors.

In particular, the issuing of licenses to financial institutions, decisions on supervisory matters of cross-divisional significance and key management, organisational and personnel issues fall within the remit of the Executive Board.

The Chief Executive Officer heads the Executive Board and its divisional heads and is tasked with ensuring compliance with the budget approved by the Board of Directors. The Deputy is appointed by the Board of Directors at the request of the CEO on a rotating basis.

The authority to initiate and close enforcement proceedings employed by SFMA to assert, when required, supervisory law has been delegated by the Executive Board to the Enforcement Committee (ENA) and the Intervention and Escalation Committee (IEK). The ENA comprises three permanent members: the Chief Executive Officer (Chair), as well as the heads of the Supervisory Policy and Legal Expertise and Enforcement divisions. The members of the IEK are the Heads of the Enforcement division and the supervisory division affected by the relevant business matter on a case-by-case basis.

Stefan Walter, CEO

Stefan Walter has been SFMA’s CEO since 1 April 2024. From 2014 to 2024, he was Director General at the European Central Bank (ECB). Prior to this, he held a management position at Ernst & Young, was Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and held management positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Patric Eymann, Interim Deputy CEO and Head of Enforcement division

Patric Eymann has held the role of Interim Deputy CEO since 1 May 2025. He became a member of the Executive Board and Head of the Enforcement division in August 2016. He was previously in charge of the division’s Investigations section. A law graduate, he has worked for SFMA and the Swiss Federal Banking Commission since 1998.

Léonard Bôle, Head of Asset Management and Markets division

Léonard Bôle has been a member of the Executive Board since 1 April 2014. Until 31 March 2025, he was responsible for the former Markets division; since 1 April 2025, he has headed the Asset Management and Markets division. From 2009, he worked in leading roles in the combating of money laundering, the supervision of self-regulatory organisations and authorising financial institutions at SFMA. He was previously employed in the legal department of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission, one of SFMA’s predecessor authorities.

Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé, Head of Integrated Risk Expertise division

Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé has been a member of the Executive Board since 1 September 2022. She was initially Head of the Asset Management division, and on 1 April 2025 became Head of the Integrated Risk Expertise division. Previously the mathematician was Group Chief Risk Officer of Banque Cantonale de Genève.

Simon Brönnimann, Head of Recovery and Resolution division

Simon Brönnimann has been Head of the Recovery and Resolution division and a member of the Executive Board since 1 June 2026, having led the division on an interim basis since April 2026. Prior to this, he had served as Interim Head of the Banks division since September 2025, having previously headed SFMA’s Small Banks and Securities Firms section, as well as the Supervision of Credit Suisse and the UBS Group.

Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart, Head of Insurance division

Hedwig Ulmer Busenhart has been Head of the Insurance division and a member of SFMA’s Executive Board since 1 April 2026. She was previously Head of Pensions Switzerland and a member of the Executive Management at Helvetia Insurance.

Alain Girard, Head of Banks division

Alain Girard has been a member of SFMA’s Executive Board since 1 August 2022 and has led the Banks division since 1 April 2026. Prior to this, the economist and qualified lawyer had headed the Recovery and Resolution division since August 2022 and was responsible for the Supervision of Small Banks and Securities Firms from 2019 to 2022.

Alexandra Karg, Head of Operations division

Alexandra Karg took over the Operations division on 1 October 2016 when she also became a member of SFMA’s Executive Board. Prior to that, she headed Information Products at the Stuttgart Stock Exchange and was also a member of the management board of SIX Financial Information in Zurich.

Annemarie Nussbaumer, Head of Supervisory Policy and Legal Expertise division

Annemarie Nussbaumer has been a member of the Executive Board with responsibility for the Supervisory Policy and Legal Expertise division since 1 November 2023. Previously Annemarie Nussbaumer was Head of Supervision of Small Banks and Securities Firms, after leading the Authorisation section within the Banks division at SFMA.