Banking in Switzerland dates to the early 18th century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland. The country has a long history of banking secrecy and client confidentiality reaching back to the early 1700s. Starting as a way to protect wealthy European banking interests, Swiss banking secrecy was codified in 1934 with the passage of a landmark federal law, the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks. These laws, which were used to protect assets of persons being persecuted by Nazi authorities, have also been used by people and institutions seeking to illegally evade taxes, hide assets, or generally commit financial crime.
Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and provides services in investment banking, private banking, asset management, and shared services. It is known for strict bank–client confidentiality and banking secrecy. The Financial Stability Board considers it to be a global systemically important bank. Credit Suisse is also a primary dealer and Forex counterparty of the Federal Reserve in the United States.
Julius Bär Group AG, known alternatively as Julius Baer Group Ltd., is a private banking corporation founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it is among the older Swiss banking institutions. In terms of assets under management, Julius Baer is number two among Swiss banks after UBS and the biggest pure-play private bank. The bank's reputation has been marred by various controversies and legal challenges. These include a legal dispute with Wikileaks in 2008, allegations of aiding U.S. citizens in tax evasion in 2011, and a censure by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in 2020 for deficiencies in combating money laundering. The bank has also been implicated in money laundering scandals involving corrupt Venezuelan officials and has faced investigations for its role in the FIFA corruption case. These controversies have cast a shadow on its legacy and raised questions about its compliance and ethical practices.
The Swiss Bankers Association is a professional organization of Swiss financial institutions.
Crime in Switzerland is combated mainly by cantonal police. The Federal Office of Police investigates organised crime, money laundering and terrorism.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority is the Swiss government body responsible for financial regulation. This includes the supervision of banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges and securities dealers, as well as other financial intermediaries in Switzerland. FINMA's name and acronym are usually expressed in English so as to avoid the semblance of favouring any one of Switzerland's linguistic regions.
SIX operates the infrastructure for the Swiss financial centre. The company provides services relating to securities transactions, the processing of financial information, payment transactions and is building a digital infrastructure. The company name SIX is an abbreviation and stands for Swiss Infrastructure and Exchange. SIX is globally active, with its headquarters in Zurich.
VZ Group is a Swiss financial service provider based in Zug. VZ Holding Ltd is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The group employs around 1,250 employees and managed customer assets amounting to CHF 39 billion as of 31 December 2022.
Raiffeisen Switzerland is a cooperative of cooperatives – the union of all independent Swiss Raiffeisen banks. It bears responsibility for the business policy and strategy within the Raiffeisen Group. The 219 independent Raiffeisen banks of Switzerland are organised as cooperatives. With 896 branch offices in total, they make up the densest branch network of any Swiss bank. After the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, the Raiffeisen Group has become the second-largest banking group in Switzerland with client assets under management of 246.6 billion francs. Since June 2014, Raiffeisen has been classified as one of Switzerland's systemically important banks and must therefore meet special requirements in terms of capital. Raiffeisen Switzerland has 3.65 million clients in Switzerland, of whom approximately 1.9 million are cooperative members and thus co-owners of their regional Raiffeisen banks.
Adriano B. Lucatelli is a Swiss entrepreneur and investor in the financial services industry.
Swissquote Group Holding SA is a Swiss banking group specialising in providing online financial and trading services. The Group's shares have been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker symbol “SQN” since 29 May 2000. The Group's headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland. The Group has 1040 employees as of December 2022.
Rothschild & Co is a multinational private and merchant bank, headquartered in Paris, France. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French branches of the Rothschild family.
Revolut is a global neobank and financial technology company that offers banking services for retail customers and businesses. Headquartered in London, it was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers products including banking services, currency exchange, debit and credit cards virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing "vaults", personal loans and BNPL, stock trading, crypto, commodities, human resources and other services.
Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, headquartered in Basel, is a Swiss private bank specializing in wealth management and investment advisory.
REYL Intesa Sanpaolo, REYL & Cie according to its legal name, is a financial services company founded in Geneva in 1973 by Dominique REYL.
Giorgio Behr is a Swiss businessman, lawyer, accountant and university professor.
Dukascopy Bank is a Swiss online bank which provides online and mobile trading, banking and financial services. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has offices in Riga, Kyiv, Moscow, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai and Tokyo, with over 300 employees.
Dadvan Ismat Yousuf Yousuf is an Iraqi cryptocurrency investor and businessman whose early bitcoin investments made him the youngest self-made billionaire in Switzerland. Yousuf and his companies have been involved in a number of allegations.
The general notion of cryptocurrencies in Europe denotes the processes of legislative regulation, distribution, circulation, and storage of cryptocurrencies in Europe. In April 2023, the EU Parliament passed the Markets in Crypto Act (MiCA) unified legal framework for crypto-assets within the European Union.
On 19 March 2023, Swiss bank UBS Group AG agreed to buy Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion in an all-stock deal brokered by the government of Switzerland and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. The Swiss National Bank supported the deal by providing more than CHF 100 billion in liquidity to UBS following its takeover of Credit Suisse's operations, while the Swiss government provided a guarantee to UBS to cover losses of up to CHF 9 billion over the short term. Additionally, CHF 16 billion of Additional Tier 1 bonds were written down to zero.
CHF 447.8 million (2009) [1] 
