Banking in Switzerland

Banking in Switzerland is regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes. The country's tradition of bank secrecy, which dates to the Middle Ages, was first codified in the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks, colloquially known as the Banking Law of 1934. The regime of bank secrecy that Swiss banks are famous for came under pressure in the wake of the UBS tax evasion scandal and the 1934 banking law was amended in 2009 to limit tax evasion by non-Swiss bank clients.

In 2015, banks represented 53.3% of the total value added of the Swiss financial sector, totalling CHF 32 billion representing 5.12% of the country's GDP.UBS and Credit Suisse, the two largest banks in Switzerland, were ranked globally at #27 and #29 among banks, with assets of approximately US$941 billion and US$909 billion, respectively.

As of 11 October 2008^[update], the banking industry in Switzerland has an average leverage ratio (assets/net worth) of 29 to 1, while the industry's short-term liabilities are equal to 260 percent of the Swiss GDP or 1,273 percent of the Swiss national debt.

Swiss mercenaries brought home funds from their contracts that helped Swiss banks begin. Banking began in the eighteenth century by way of the riches of merchants. Wegelin & Co., established in 1741, was the oldest bank in Switzerland until it restructured into a new legal entity in 2013.Hentsch & Cie and Lombard Odier were both founded in 1796 in Geneva as private banks, and The Pictet Group was established in 1805 as a merchant bank.Hentsch & Cie was a founding member of the Swiss National bank during 1852.

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