The Swiss Finance Institute is a private foundation created in 2006 by Switzerland's banking and finance community in cooperation with leading Swiss universities. It supports and advances research, doctoral training and executive education in banking and finance. The Institute is supported by the Swiss banks, the Swiss Stock Exchange, Swiss universities and the Swiss Federal Government.

• Our Initiative

As a world-leading financial centre, Switzerland has the natural ambition to house a world-leading research and training center in banking and finance. In pursuit of this ambition the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has invested in the creation of the Swiss Finance Institute, a foundation with the sole purpose of achieving excellence in banking and finance education and research with the hope of making Swiss universities the destination of choice for financial market specialists from all over the world. The initiative was well received by the Swiss universities. The federal government also maintains close links to the Swiss Finance Institute. It supports the planned operational cooperation between the Swiss Finance Institute, NCCR FINRISK and the Swiss National Science Foundation and strongly encourages a close coordination among the universities, considering the initiative a shining example of public-private cooperation in academia.

• Our Goals

Over the medium term, the Swiss Finance Institute aims to become a leading research and teaching organization in the area of banking and finance, achieving top-3 status in Europe and top-10 in the world. To achieve this objective as many as 30 professorships will be created in the next 5 years in the partner universities with a total of 50 faculties being supported with appropriate incentives and research funding. Fundamental and applied research projects will be launched in some key areas of finance and banking. A Swiss PhD program in finance will also be promoted. Support of new initiatives in executive education is forthcoming.

• Our Activities

The Swiss Finance Institute is active in both research and executive education. Excellence at both levels will increase Switzerland’s attractiveness for outstanding researchers, teachers, students and participants in executive education program and sustain the ambition of becoming a world leader in banking and finance education.

• Promoting Research

Our commitment to research will be manifest in three specific areas: structural promotion, a PhD- program and support of research projects.

• Structural promotion. Through an incentive-driven scheme, the Swiss Finance Institute aims to attract leading professors and researchers in the field of b