Executive Board
Roman Studer
Roman Studer (1977), Dr. phil.,
CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Roman Studer has been CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association since August 2023. He also sits on the Executive Committee of the European Banking Federation (EBF), the Foundation Board of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) and the Board of Directors of Arbeitgeber Banken, which represents banks in their capacity as employers.
He started out as an academic, working at Oxford University and then as Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His first post in the private sector was as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where his responsibilities included advising multinational financial institutions. In 2011, he moved to UBS, where he held various positions, most recently Head of Governmental Affairs Switzerland from 2018 to 2023, with a remit covering all regulatory and economic policy developments in Switzerland of relevance to the bank.
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.
August Benz
August Benz (1969), Ph.D. HSG, Head of International & Transformation, Deputy CEO of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
August Benz has been Head of International & Transformation at the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) since July 2017 and Deputy CEO since December 2017. Together with his team, he focuses on topics such as private banking, asset management, market access, digital finance and cyber security, and sustainable finance. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schwyzer Kantonalbank, President of the Swiss Financial Sector Cyber Security Centre (Swiss FS-CSC), a member of the Executive Board of the Asset Management Association Switzerland and a member of the Foundation Board of Building Bridges, the Swiss conference for sustainable finance.
August Benz started his career in 1999 at UBS, where he headed the Global Strategy department of UBS Asset Management. He was later responsible for the management and restructuring of Europe’s largest investment fund platform and in charge of B2B sales in Switzerland. He also built up UBS Asset Management’s Global Sales Management unit and, as Head of Client Servicing, oversaw the introduction and implementation of worldwide client relationship management standards.
August Benz has a PhD in political science from the University of St. Gallen and a Master of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Jan Weissbrodt
Jan Weissbrodt (1979), Dr. iur., Head of Financial Market & Regulation,
Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Jan Weissbrodt has been Head of Financial Market & Regulation since 2024. His areas of responsibility include banking regulation, legal & compliance, tax, financial & capital markets, money & currencies and economic policy.
Jan Weissbrodt joined the Swiss Bankers Association in 2021, initially as Head of Tax. Prior to that, he amassed broad experience in the national and international financial and technology industries, both as a consultant and with medium-sized and large corporations.
After gaining a degree in business administration from the University of Mannheim in 2005 and another in international tax law from the University of Zurich in 2014, he was awarded a doctorate in law by the University of Maastricht in 2018.
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 been Head of Operations & Services and a member of the Executive Board since February 2024. In this function, she is responsible for the Association’s central services, including Education & Academy, ICT, Finance & Services and Management & Membership Services. She was previously in charge of the SBA’s Board of Directors & CEO staff unit from 2020 to 2024. She also holds a number of mandates as a representative of the SBA, including on the boards of the compensation office for the Swiss banking industry and the banks’ family allowances office.
Anita Diensthuber has more than two decades of experience in the banking industry, in particular in retail banking, private banking and wealth management. Her career has included sales, project management and staff unit responsibilities for such companies as Zuger Kantonalbank (2002–2016) and Vontobel (2017-2020).
Anita Diensthuber has a degree in German studies and history and a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Zurich.
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 been Head of Communications and Public Affairs and a member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) since October 2023. In this function, she is responsible for representing and developing the Swiss banking centre’s interests in the political, media and public arenas. This includes consistent communication with the Association’s stakeholder groups as well as state-of-the-art campaign management to strengthen the sector’s reputation.
Dagmar Laub has more than 20 years of experience as a specialist and manager in communications and public affairs at Swiss banks. Before joining the SBA, she spent almost nine years as Head of Corporate Communications at Zürcher Kantonalbank, where she built up the Public Affairs unit. Prior to that, she was Head of Group Communications at Raiffeisen Switzerland and held a number of management positions in communications at banks and agencies.
She has a Master’s degree in communication management from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has completed part-time management and strategy programmes at the IMD Business School in Lausanne.