How many institutions in Switzerland can lead a CHF 100m financing of an innovative mid-sized company?
Leading means forming an independent view of the business, understanding its industry and technology, pricing idiosyncratic risk, structuring the transaction and carrying meaningful exposure.
This question reaches well beyond venture capital.
SECO’s 2025 study following the disappearance of Credit Suisse found no general shortage of banking services. It did, however, identify specific shortcomings in substantial corporate lending, syndicated financing and complex financing.
The gaps appear particularly relevant for internationally active and innovative mid-sized companies: businesses that sit between conventional SME finance and the capital-market access of large multinationals.
Switzerland retains enormous financial expertise.
What deserves examination is where that expertise sits, what mandate it has, and whether sufficient underwriting capability remains concentrated in institutions able to originate complex productive financing at scale.
Managing capital and forming capital require different capabilities.
A major financial centre needs depth in both.