SIF’s headquarters in Bern: FIND is being taken in-house with effect from today (1 September 2025) two years after being set up (screenshot of Global Government Fintech coverage from 2023) | Credit: SIF (Bernerhof pic)Switzerland’s government has announced that an office set up to promote fintech innovation two years ago as a new unit ‘administratively attached to’ its State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) is to be, in effect, taken in-house.
The Swiss Financial Innovation Desk (‘FIND’) was established for an initial three-year period. But, one year ahead of schedule, the government states that ‘high demand’ has triggered a structural re-think taking effect from today (1 September).
‘Following a two-year pilot phase, the Financial Innovation Desk (FIND) will be transferred to the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) in an adapted form on 1 September 2025,’ the government states in an announcement (‘End of Financial Innovation Desk pilot phase – continuation by State Secretariat for International Finance’) posted on News Service Bund, the Swiss government’s news portal.
‘The experience gained during FIND’s first two years confirmed the considerable relevance of and high demand for this role with a view to ensuring successful financial innovation in Switzerland,’ the announcement states. ‘As it is the Federal Council’s stated objective for Switzerland to be one of the world’s leading locations in the area of digital financial services too, a specialist Innovation Desk unit will now be created within SIF.’
At the time of its launch it was described as ‘acting as a catalyst for any matters relating to financial innovation in Switzerland’ and ‘bringing together innovation projects, research, investors and authorities at national and international level and facilitate exchanges between the various stakeholders.’
RELATED ARTICLE Swiss government sets up unit to ‘foster financial innovation’ – our news story (6 July 2023) on FIND’s creation
SIF’s new ‘Markets and Innovation’ unit
FIND has its origins in a 2022 report on digital finance in which the Federal Council proposed establishing such an innovation platform with the aim of promoting ‘framework conditions, exchanges between the private sector and the authorities concerned, and the prerequisites for financial innovation in Switzerland.’
The unit assumes its new status through an internal rejig within SIF – which is based in the Federal Department of Finance (FDF)’s building in the Bernerhof in Bern, Switzerland’s capital city – and, more broadly, against the backdrop of government spending cutbacks amid what the Federal Department of Finance describes as a ‘strained budgetary situation’ (25 June).
SIF’s head of capital markets and infrastructure Julie Tomka explained in a LinkedIn post one week ago, that the pre-existing ‘Capital Markets and Infrastructure’ unit is being re-titled ‘Markets and Innovation’ and is ‘complemented by an Innovation Desk’ (FIND) as of 1 September.
Tomka described her team as ‘grow[ing] and tak[ing] on new responsibilities’, stating that ‘it will be exciting to deepen our collaboration with the Swiss ecosystem and generate even more impact together.’
Deputy head of capital markets and infrastructure Nicolas Brügger will head the Innovation Desk.
In her Linked post, Tomka paid tribute to the FIND team, which has been overseen since its launch by Eva Selamlar-Leuthold, for ‘valuable work in laying the foundations upon which we can build today.’
RELATED ARTICLE Switzerland government backs ‘SwissHacks’ hackathon focused on fintech innovation – a news story (1 May 2024) on the first SwissHacks (see below)
‘Broad spectrum’ of initiatives
FIND-ing an ‘adapted form’ (photo taken in the past week): FIND community and events lead Vénusia Bertin, FIND head Eva Selamlar-Leuthold, SIF head of capital markets and infrastructure Julie Tomka and FIND innovation concierge and financial analyst Adrian Bruggmann [Credit: FIND]Two days ago (29 August) FIND published a 21-page annual report, stating that during FIND had delivered a ‘broad spectrum of initiatives’ during the year, including the publication of a 44-page ‘Pathway 2035 for Financial Innovation – Your Navigator’ guide (in January 2025); the second edition of SwissHacks (in April 2025) – a hackathon focused on fintech innovation launched in 2024; and a 2025 ‘Innovation Tour’.
The annual report describes FIND’s team as consisting of Selamlar-Leuthold, supported by three part-time colleagues.
In a LinkedIn post also two days ago, the FIND account posted: ‘Time to say goodbye… after two exciting years as a pilot project, the Swiss Financial Innovation Desk has successfully fulfilled its mission: connecting, inspiring and strengthening Switzerland’s financial innovation ecosystem.’
The government’s announcement states that ‘established services and events such as the FIND Map and the fintech hackathon known as SwissHacks will be retained’, adding that ‘parts of the FIND website will be integrated into SIF’s site.
‘The inclusion and networking of the various stakeholders remains crucial and will also continue in an appropriate form with representatives from public authorities, academia and the private sector, under the leadership of SIF,’ the announcement adds.
RELATED ARTICLE Government and fintech: en route to becoming comfortable bedfellows? – a write-up from a panel session at Global Government Fintech Lab 2025 (11 June) featuring Eva Selamlar-Leuthold
‘Concierge’ function
Selamlar-Leuthold was among the speakers in the opening panel session at Global Government Fintech Lab 2025, held in Dublin on 11 June, alongside government representatives from Ireland (the event’s host nation), Germany and Italy, as well as the private sector.
During the discussion she described Switzerland as consistently ranking at the top of global innovation indices. For example, the country recently maintained its position – for the 14th successive year – at the top of the ‘Global Innovation Index’ published by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). But assessing the health of the fintech sector through the “narrow” prism of the number of fintech companies operating in the country, she said that figures had “stagnated”. Switzerland is currently home to 483 such companies – the same figure as 12 months previously.
Selamlar-Leuthold said that FIND’s own priorities had been “collaboration” and “facilitation”, acting as a “concierge” across a territory that has “so many” initiatives, industry associations and academic or research institutions; as well as city or cantonal (regional) fintech-related initiatives.
“By being there, by listening, by talking to our customers – the ecosystem – we know what’s going well [and] what’s not going well,” she said, saying that the FIND website enables people to easily navigate, for example, which institutes are researching topics such as AI, quantum computing or blockchain technologies. “Only when you make that visible, then you can find each other, and then something can happen out of that,” she said.
Brian Corr, head of the international financial services unit in Ireland’s Department of Finance and a fellow panellist during the session, jokingly admitted envy at Switzerland having created FIND and Selamlar-Leuthold’s job title. “I love the idea of an ‘innovation desk’ and I think ‘innovation in financial services’, in its broadest sense, is what we’re talking about when we talk about fintech,” said Corr.