In a speech on insurance supervision, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) outlined a risk-based, proportionate and sector-specific approach that calibrates supervisory intensity to an insurer’s size, business model, activities and risk profile. Near-term priorities include the Swiss Solvency Test, liquidity, cyber and climate risks, alongside potential spillovers from macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, rising sovereign debt, trade barriers, sanctions and nonbank financial activity. FINMA highlighted growing outsourcing and concentration risks as insurers move more critical technology to third parties and cloud providers, noting that about one-third of reported cyberattacks occur indirectly through third parties. Its supervisory model combines company-specific analysis by key account teams with cross-sector expertise and independent on-site inspections. The authority also reiterated that complex or risky investments within tied assets, including private credit, require its approval, while suitability rules for qualified life insurance require transparent product information, appropriateness assessments and documented advice. In supplementary health insurance, FINMA reported progress in defining additional services, adjusting prices and excluding some nontransparent providers, but found that some prices remain above insurers’ own valuations and that compliant billing models are still missing for certain services. The remaining problems are concentrated among service providers in Geneva and Vaud and some insurers. FINMA will not approve new products from affected insurers until the deficiencies are remedied, and it will continue addressing unauthorized activity among untied insurance intermediaries, which remains widespread two and a half years after the revised rules took effect.

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