Executive Board
Roman Studer
Roman Studer (1977), Dr. phil., CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Roman Studer has an in-depth knowledge of the financial industry and many years’ experience as a senior manager and lecturer on economic policy and the financial markets.
He was Head Governmental Affairs Switzerland at UBS from 2018 to mid-2023, with a remit covering all regulatory and economic policy developments in Switzerland of relevance to the bank. Prior to that, from 2012 to 2017, he was Chief Operating Officer of the UBS Center for Economics in Society in the University of Zurich’s Department of Economics. The Center promotes economic research as well as dialogue between academia, business, politics and the broader public.
Roman Studer studied politics, economics and economic history at the University of Zurich as well as at Oxford University, where he obtained a PhD in economic history and also taught and researched. He was an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and has been a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen since 2013. His first post in the private sector was as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group, where his responsibilities included advising multinational financial institutions.
Roman Studer has been CEO of the SBA since August 2023.
August Benz
August Benz (1969), Ph.D. HSG, Head of International & Transformation, Deputy CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Since July 2017, August Benz is Head of International & Transformation at the SBA and, since December 2017, he is Deputy CEO of the office. He is responsible for all matters relating to Private Banking, Asset Management, Europe, digitalisation and sustainable finance. Since April 2022, he is President of the Swiss Financial Sector Cyber Security Centre (FS-CSC). He has also been on the Board of the Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) since September 2020. Since October 2023, he is a member of the Foundation Board of Building Bridges.
He started his time at UBS in 1999 and held various management positions. He was head of UBS Asset Management’s global strategy department. He was responsible for leading and restructuring Europe’s largest fund platform and for leading the B2B distribution in Switzerland. He built up UBS Asset Management’s global distribution management function and was Head Client Servicing, with global responsibility for establishing and implementing client servicing standards.
He has a proven track record in the finance industry and is well acquainted with the various aspects of financial market regulation. He has a Ph.D. in political science from St. Gallen University and a Master of Science from Edinburgh University.
Jan Weissbrodt
Jan Weissbrodt (1979), Dr. iur., Head of Financial Market & Regulation,
Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Prior to joining the SBA as Head of Tax in 2021, he gained valuable practical experience in the finance department of Sportradar, a global data and information service provider based in St. Gallen. Before that, he worked at KPMG in Zurich for over four years, advising various Swiss and international banking groups on matters of tax law. He began his career as a tax consultant at Wedding & Partner Steuerberatungs- und Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft mbH in Frankfurt am Main, moving to Credit Suisse in 2010.
Jan Weissbrodt has a degree in business administration from the University of Mannheim and another in international tax law from the University of Zurich, as well as a doctorate in law from the University of Maastricht.
Anita Diensthuber
Anita Diensthuber (1984), Dr. phil., Head of Operations & Services, Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Anita Diensthuber has worked in the banking industry for over 20 years. She has a track record and many years’ practical experience in a wide range of sales, project management and staff functions.
In her roles at Zuger Kantonalbank (2002–2016) and Vontobel (2017–2020), she took responsibility for clients and successfully managed complex projects. She is very well acquainted with both clients’ needs and the challenges of the banking industry. She possesses extensive, in-depth specialist knowledge, particularly in retail banking, private banking and wealth management. From 2020 to 2024, she headed the SBA’s Board of Directors & CEO staff unit. She has ample experience of working within an association and a deep understanding of the financial centre.
Anita Diensthuber has a degree in German studies and history and a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Zurich. She took charge of the SBA’s Operations & Services division on 1 February 2024.
Dagmar Laub
Dagmar Laub (1970), Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Dagmar Laub has many years’ experience as a specialist and manager in communications and public affairs. She was responsible for corporate communications at the strategic and operational levels of various Swiss banks for some 20 years, during which time she gained extensive knowledge of financial market issues.
Before joining the Swiss Bankers Association in October 2023, she spent almost nine years as Head of Corporate Communications at Zürcher Kantonalbank, Switzerland’s third-largest bank. In that post, she reoriented the bank’s communications and created a new Public Affairs department. She was Head of Group Communications for Raiffeisen Switzerland in St. Gallen from 2008 to the end of 2014. From 2001 to 2008, she held a number of management positions in communications at private banks and agencies. Her career in the financial sector began in 1998 at Zürcher Kantonalbank.
Dagmar Laub holds an MA in Communication Management from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, as well as diplomas in PR consultancy and marketing planning. She has completed part-time management and strategy programmes at the IMD Business School in Lausanne.