These days, it’s common to hear “AI” and “transforming” in the same sentence – whether it’s finance, manufacturing or even finding out if your cat is angry… However, as global financial hubs, the question of AI’s role in the future of finance is of particular importance for both Switzerland and the UK.

Between the signing of the Berne Financial Services Agreement and attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt found time for another Swiss stopover – joining Ambassador Markus Leitner and 18 Swiss business leaders for lunch at the Embassy in early January.

A London roadshow of the best Swiss fintech startups showcased Switzerland’s strength in financial innovation.

On 19 April 2023, the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK hosted an event on Central Bank Digital Currencies: Cash settlement in a tokenized asset ecosystem, with a keynote speech by Ambassador Markus Leitner. The discussion was moderated by Mrs Izabella Kaminska, Senior Finance Editor at POLITICO Europe, with Mr Matthias Jütter, SNB, Mr John Jackson, BoE, Mr Hyder Jaffrey, UBS and Mr Kunal Jhanji, BCG/ Payments Association. The discussion was followed by a lively Q&A with the audience.

The end of 2022 was quite busy for our Science and Innovation team, with ten of the best Swiss fintech startups coming to the UK for a full week of immersion into London's fintech ecosystem!

The Swiss Fintech VENTURE LEADERS are 10 of the most promising Swiss Fintech startups, selected for a business development roadshow in London. From the 28th November to 2nd December, the Venture Leaders will be in town to meet investors, corporations, Fintech experts and UK entrepreneurs, as well as to explore the UK market.

On 21 September 2022, the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK hosted a Sustainable Finance Event on the topic of Nature and Biodiversity in the run-up to the Building Bridges conference that took place in Geneva from 3 – 6 October.

From 6-17 June the first leg of our #WeAreSwitzerland tour of the UK took place, with our electric-powered Swiss cab travelling to Cambridge, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester for events and meetings highlighting the many links and partnerships between Switzerland and the UK.

The Embassy of Switzerland in the UK and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), in partnership with the Edinburgh Tax Network and Terra Firma Chambers, will be holding a panel discussion in Edinburgh on Thursday 9 June on the topic of ESG investing and adapting to the green agenda.

For their annual Gender Balance Index, the Official Monetary and Financial institutions Forum (OMFIF) score institutions based on gender balance among senior staff in leading financial institutions. The 2022 Gender Balance Index reveals gradual but not fundamental progress in the representation of women in the upper echelons of global finance. Unfortunately, Covid-19 further widened gender inequality at home as well as in the workplace. Read Markus Leitner, Ambassador of Switzerland’s foreword to the Gender Balance Index 2022.

Throughout the month of June, the Swiss Embassy will tour the UK, with events and meetings held in Cambridge, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff and Oxford to highlight the many links between Switzerland and the UK.

Switzerland sees sustainable finance as a great opportunity for the Swiss financial centre. The combination of sustainable financial services and digital technology (green fintech) is particularly promising. For this reason, the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), together with industry representatives, launched the Green Fintech Network.

On Thursday 28 April, President Ignazio Cassis met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss in London. President Cassis was also invited to pay a courtesy visit to Queen Elizabeth II.

Our #corporateconversations series explores how corporations in the UK work with Swiss startups.

Sustainability in the financial sector is becoming increasingly important. Both internationally and in Switzerland, financial players are increasingly striving to make responsible financing and investment decisions that take account of their impact on the environment and society.

Our #corporateconversations series explores how corporations in the UK work with Swiss startups.

In June 2020, Finance Ministers Ueli Maurer and Rishi Sunak issued a joint statement expressing their intention to conclude a financial services agreement (MRA). This should enable cross-border market access for a wide range of financial services in the areas of insurance, banking, asset management and capital market infrastructure. Both Finance Ministers met again in London in December 2021 and expressed their shared intention to continue the negotiations on the MRA in the current constructive spirit.