The Swiss International Finance Forum will welcome a number of speakers from both Switzerland and abroad.

In addition to keynote speeches and podium discussions different workshops are offered.

You find the complete programme overview here.

CEO of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)

A British citizen, Mark Branson was born in 1968. He studied mathematics and management studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, and also obtained a master’s degree in operational research from the University of Lancaster. Branson began his professional life at Coopers & Lybrand Management Consultancy Services, before joining Credit Suisse in London three  years later. In 1997, he continued his career at the Zurich head office of what was then SBC Warburg, occupying a number of high-ranking positions. He became CEO of UBS Securities Japan Ltd in 2006 and has worked at FINMA since 2010. Branson was appointed Deputy CEO in February 2013. He took up the role of CEO on 1 April 2014.

Vice-Chairman, BlackRock

Philipp Hildebrand was a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from 2003 to January 2012. In 2010, he was appointed Chairman of the SNB. He was also a member  of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel and Vice-Chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). International financial magazine The Banker named him European Central Bank Governor of the Year in 2011. Before his time at the SNB, Hildebrand was at Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in Geneva from 2001 to 2003. He also worked at the Vontobel Group and at hedge fund Moore Capital in London and New York. Hildebrand has been Vice-Chairman of BlackRock since October 2011.

Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB)

Thomas Jordan studied economics at the University of Berne, completing his doctorate in 1993. He wrote his post-doctoral thesis during a three-year research residency at the Department of Economics of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He joined the Swiss National Bank in 1997 as an economic adviser. In 2002, he was appointed Head of Research. He became a member of the Governing Board in 2007 and was named Vice-Chairman in 2010. Jordan hasbeen Chairman of the Governing Board since 2012. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel and on the Steering Committee of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

Chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association

Patrick Odier has been Chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association and Vice-Chairman of economiesuisse (Swiss Business Federation) since September 2009. He
has worked at the Lombard Odier Group since 1982 – as a partner since 1986 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd since 2014. Odier studied economics at the University of Geneva and holds an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago. He is also a board member of several Swiss and international academic institutions and non-profit organisations.

Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank

Belgian economist Peter Praet has been a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) since June 2011. His area of responsibility covers the economy, human resources, budgeting and organisation. Praet studied at  the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he earned a doctorate in economics in 1980. He taught at the same university from 1980 to 1987. In 1988, he became Chief Economist at Fortis Bank. He worked as Head of Cabinet for the Belgian Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2000, before sitting on the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Belgium from 2000 to 2011. Praet has held positions on various international committees. He served as first deputy to a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 2000 to 2011.

Founder and CEO, VZ Holding AG

Matthias Reinhart completed a degree in economics at the University of St. Gallen in 1986. From 1987 to 1992, he worked as a management consultant and then as a senior project manager at McKinsey & Company in Zurich and Chicago. Reinhart, a citizen of Winterthur, founded VZ Holding AG in 1992. He today heads the company and its various subsidiaries across Switzerland as CEO. VZ Holding AG has been listed on SIX Swiss Exchange since March 2007. The group employs some 700 people and manages client assets worth around CHF 15 billion.

Governor of the National Bank of Denmark

Danish economist Lars Rohde worked for Arbejdernes Landsbank from 1981 to 1982, and then for the National Bank of Denmark until 1985. He subsequently became an employee of the Danish Medical Doctors’ Pension Fund, where he served as CEO from 1988 to 1989. An economics graduate, Rohde afterwards held a number
of management positions at Realkredit Danmark until  1998. From 1998 to 2013, he was CEO of the Danish Labour Market Supplementary Pension Scheme. In February
2013, he was appointed Governor of the National  Bank of Denmark. Rohde is a business administration degree examiner as well as Chairman of the Systemic Risk Council.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Credit Suisse Group AG

Urs Rohner has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group AG since 2011. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of International Finance and a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, he served as full-time Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Credit Suisse Group AG and as a member of the Group Executive Board, acting as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. From 2000 to 2004, Rohner worked as CEO of ProSiebenSat.1. He began his career as a lawyer in Zurich and New York after graduating in law in 1983 from the University of Zurich.

CEO, ABB

Ulrich Spiesshofer studied business administration and engineering at the University of Stuttgart and obtained a doctorate in economics. Before joining ABB, he was senior partner and head of the global operations practice at Roland Berger for three years. He also worked for management consultants A.T. Kearney for 11 years. Spiesshofer was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the ABB Group in September 2013, after having previously headed the company’s Discrete Automation and Motion division for almost four years. Under his leadership, the division’s sales doubled thanks to organic growth and acquisitions on the one hand, and increased profit margins on the other.

Politician, economist, former head economist of the World Bank

From 1991 to 1993, Lawrence H. Summers was Chief Economist of the World Bank. He was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States from 1999 to 2001 and Director of the  White House National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. Lawrence H. Summers was a confidant of President Bill Clinton during the financial crisis of the 1990s, and one of President Obama’s key economic advisers during the 2008 financial crisis. He began his career in academia at age 28, when
he became one of the youngest people in history to be named  full professor at Harvard University. From 2001 to 2006, he was President of Harvard University. Today, he is President Emeritus. According to Time, Foreign Policy and The Economist, Summers is one of the world’s most influential thinkers.

CEO, Raiffeisen Group

A business administration graduate, Pierin Vincenz began his professional life at Schweizerische Treuhandgesellschaft  in 1979, where he had years of practice and experience in a variety of fields. He joined Swiss Bank Corporation in 1986, before taking on a role at Hunter Douglas. Since 1996, he has been at the Raiffeisen Group, where he was appointed CEO in 1999. At the beginning of October 2015, Vincenz will
retire from his position as CEO of the Raiffeisen Group. He holds various directorships, e.g. Chairman of the Boards of Directors of Notenstein Private Bank Ltd and Aduno Holding AG, and member of the Boards of Directors of Helvetia Insurance and the Swiss Bankers Association.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, UBS Group AG

Axel A. Weber has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS AG since 2012. He is also a board member at the Institute of International Finance and the International Monetary Conference, Vice-Chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association and a member of the Group of Thirty. Weber was Chairman of the German Bundesbank between 2004 and 2011, during which time he also served as a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, as German governor
of the International Monetary Fund, and as a member of the G7 and G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. He qualified as a lecturer in economics at the University of Siegen and holds professorships at a number of universities.

Member of the Swiss Federal Council,
Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance

 After studying law, qualifying as a lawyer and notary public in the canton of Graubünden, and obtaining a doctorate at the University of Zurich, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf worked as a self-employed lawyer and notary public from 1987 to 1998. She was elected to the district court of Trin in 1985, where she presided from 1991 to 1997. As a member of the Graubünden cantonal parliament, she worked on several
 committees. She was elected to the Graubünden cantonal government in 1988 and subsequently served twice as its president. In 2007, Widmer-Schlumpf was elected to the Swiss Federal Council, where she has been the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance since November 2010. Federal Councillor Widmer-Schlumpf is a member of the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland. She was born in Graubünden in 1956 and is a mother of three.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, SIX Group

Alexandre Zeller studied business administration before completing the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in Boston. Starting in 1987, he held various positions at Credit Suisse in Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne over a 12-year period. He was appointed to the Executive Board in 1999 and was CEO of the Private Banking department in 2002. From 2002 to 2008, he headed Banque Cantonale Vaudoise as CEO. From autumn 2008 he was the CEO of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA in Geneva, before being appointed head of HSBC Private Bank Europe and Middle East. Since 2013, Alexandre Zeller has been the Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of SIX Group.

 

Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia

Appointed Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia in 2000, Dr. Zeti has had an important role in the successful transformation of Malaysia’s financial system including overseeing the enactment of ten new major legislations for the financial sector. She is actively involved in strengthening regional cooperation and financial integration in Asia. A founding member of the Bank for International Settlements Asian Consultative Council, she was also the first co-chair of the Financial Stability Board Regional Consultative Group for Asia. Dr. Zeti participates extensively in international fora in many parts of the world, including acting as the voice of emerging economies in highlighting their role in the global economy. She has had an influential role in the global development of Islamic finance and has been involved in the financial inclusion agenda at the national and international levels. Dr. Zeti received her PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
 

 

Member of the Swiss National Council

Thomas Aeschi is Chairman of the Swiss People’s Party for the municipality of the canton of Zug. He was elected to the National Council in 2011. From 2004 to 2006, he served in the mergers and acquisitions segment of a major Swiss bank. He has been working as a management consultant since 2008.
 

 

Head of Banking Think-Tank, Swisscom

Johannes Höhener is responsible for digital banking initiatives at Swisscom. In 2012, he took on responsibility for developing e-research AG, a new digital partnership involving a number of Swiss cantonal banks. He integrated this company into Swisscom in 2014.


 

CIO, member of the Executive Board, Helvetia Group

Ralph-Thomas Honegger has been Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and a member of the Executive Board at the Helvetia Group since 2002. From 1996 to 2001, he held various managerial positions at Helvetia Patria Insurance and was a member of the Executive Board for Switzerland.

 
 

Co-founder and CEO, MoneyPark

Stefan Heitmann is co-founder and CEO of Switzerland’s mortgage specialist, MoneyPark. A qualified lawyer and economist, Heitmann also chairs international fintech investor and incubator MMP Holding.


 
 

Social scientist, journalist, author

Beat Kappeler studied social sciences and was Secretary of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions from 1977 to 1992. He has been working as a freelance journalist since 1992. Kappeler is one of Switzerland’s most renowned social and economic analysts.
 

 
 

Director of the GastroSocial Pension Fund

Since 2014, Andreas Markwalder has been responsible for managing the GastroSocial Compensation Fund and Pen­sion Fund in his role as Director. He was previously CIO for 14 years in the same company, heading major projects.
 

 
 

CEO, Glarner Kantonalbank

Hanspeter Rhyner has been CEO and Head of Corporate Management at Glarner Kantonalbank since March 2013. Previously, he occupied various roles at different banks over a number of years. Rhyner holds a master’s degree in corporate finance.
 
 
 
 

Group CEO, SIX

Urs Rüegsegger has been Group CEO at SIX since 2008. Prior to this, he held the position of CEO at St. Galler Kantonalbank after starting work there in 1993. A business administration graduate, Rüegsegger began his professional life at Swiss Re in the area of IT.
 
 
 

Senior Partner, Pictet & Cie Group SCA

Jacques de Saussure has been Senior Managing Partner of the Pictet Group since 2010, and a member of the Partners' Committee since 1987. He is responsible for the finance, communications and internal audit functions. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banque Pictet & Cie SA.

   
 

Vice-Chair of the Swiss Occupational Pension Supervisory Committee

Vera Kupper Staub worked as a pension fund adviser at ECOFIN Investment Consulting, UBS Asset Management and UBS Brinson, before becoming the CIO of the City of Zurich Pension Fund. She has been serving as the Vice-Chair of the Swiss Occupational Pension Supervisory Committee since 2012.

   
 

State Secretary for International Financial Matters

Jacques de Watteville has been acting as State Secretary within the Swiss Federal Department of Finance since 2013. Previously, he was Head of the Economic and Financial Affairs Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Swiss ambassador in Syria and Beijing, and Head of the Swiss Mission to the European Union in Brussels.

Partner and Head of FS Regulatory, PwC Switzerland

Dieter Wirth is a certified tax adviser and a lawyer. Since 1998, he has worked in various roles for PwC Switzerland. Wirth is a member of the working group for financial market regulation at economiesuisse (Swiss Business Federation), a board member of the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (SECA), and a member of the Private Market working group of the Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association (SFAMA).
 
 

Deputy Secretary General, Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland

From 1995 to 1998, Raoul Würgler worked at the United Nations Department of Public Affairs. After two years in the commercial sector at a major Swiss bank, Würgler, a qualified political scientist, joined the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland in 2000, where he has been the Deputy General Secretary since 2001.