The pace and interconnectedness of today’s risks are reshaping how organisations grow, compete and are governed. PwC’s Value in Motion study highlights how artificial intelligence, climate risk and geopolitical shifts are reconfiguring value pools and creating new ‘domains of growth’, underscoring the need for leaders to continually reinvent business, operating and energy models to stay ahead. The scale of change is significant: under a high-trust, high-adoption path, AI could increase global gross domestic product considerably by 2035, while unchecked climate impacts could pull growth in the opposite direction.
In Switzerland, the economic outlook remains mixed. Inflation has eased compared to global peers, while export exposure and sector-specific challenges – particularly in the energy and housing sectors – persist. The Swiss National Bank’s monetary stance, alongside broader market conditions, continues to influence corporate risk profiles and assurance function priorities across financial services.
Against this backdrop of economic, regulatory and technological change, assurance functions in Switzerland play a pivotal role in transforming complexity into confidence – supporting boards and audit committees with forward-looking insights, agility and assurance.
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The Risk Agenda for Assurance Functions 2026
In an era of constant motion, resilience, trust and assurance fuel confident reinvention.
This year, our document covers the following areas:
- Macro risk landscape: Latest perspectives on global and geopolitical uncertainty, highlighting the realignment of political and economic systems and their implications for risk and resilience in financial services
- Regulatory landscape: Key developments from FINMA, SNB and Swiss industry bodies shaping the national regulatory agenda, with selected international intersections in areas such as liquidity, governance, sustainability and financial resilience
- Risk hot spots: We have curated a list of risk hot spots that are shaping boardroom discussions and affecting the financial services sector. Thes eare emerging and evolving areas of risk that assurance functions should be bear in mind when setting priorities for the year ahead.
- Internal audit practices and capabilities: This section includes what is front of mind for chief audit executives. We share our point of view on the early experience of the implementation of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA) Global Internal Audit Standards, which came into effect in January 2025. Finally, we consider good practices in relation to adopting AI in internal audit.
The most pressing risk hot spots our report is focusing on
This is our selection of key risk areas impacting financial services that assurance functions should prioritise in the year ahead:
We hope you find this a helpful document to guide planning for the year ahead and spark meaningful conversations on risk and reinvention. If you would like to discuss any aspect further, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Contact us
Partner, Leader Financial Services Risk Consulting & Internal Audit, PwC Switzerland
+41 58 792 46 28
Fabienne Wikler
Jürgen Supersaxo
Luca Bonato