Former Heads of Department

Languages

Service navigation

Search

Context sidebar

Former Heads of Department

When the modern Swiss federal state was founded in 1848, Federal Councillor Martin J. Munzinger was the first to take charge of the "Department of Finance". Since then, over thirty Federal Councillors have headed the department. In 2010, a female Federal Councillor took up the post for the first time.

2016-2022 Ueli Maurer

2010-2015 Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

2004-2010 Hans-Rudolf Merz

1996-2003 Kaspar Villiger

1984-95 Otto Stich

1980-83 Willi Ritschard

1974-79 Georges-André Chevallaz

1968-73 Nello Celio

1962-68 Roger Bonvin

1960-62 Jean Bourgknecht

1954-59 Hans Streuli

1952-54 Max Weber

1944-51 Ernst Nobs

1939-43 Ernst Wetter

1934-38 Albert Meyer

1920-34 Jean-Marie Musy

1912-19 Giuseppe Motta

1911 Robert Comtesse

1910 Josef Anton Schobinger

1905-09 Robert Comtesse

1904 Marc-Emile Ruchet

1903 Robert Comtesse

1901-02 Walter Hauser

1900 Robert Comtesse

1891-99 Walter Hauser

1880-90 Bernhard Hammer

1879 Simeon Bavier

1876-78 Bernhard Hammer

1873-75 Wilhelm Matthias Naeff

1872-73 Johann Jakob Scherer

1872 Karl Schenk

1870-71 Paul Ceresole

1869 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel

1868 Victor Ruffy

1864-67 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel

1862-63 Melchior Josef Martin Knüsel

1859-61 Constant Fornerod

1857-58 Jakob Stämpfli

1855-56 Melchior Josef Martin Knüsel

1853-55 Daniel-Henri Druey

1852 Martin J. Munzinger

1851 Daniel-Henri Druey

1848-50 Martin J. Munzinger

Further information

Documentation

The Federal Council admin.ch

Contact

Top of page

From "Finance Department" to "Federal Department of Finance FDF"

The current official name "Federal Department of Finance FDF" has only existed since 1979. When the Swiss federal state was founded in 1848, Federal Councillor Martin J. Munzinger took charge of the "Finance Department" as the first official custodian of Switzerland's finances. Under Federal Councillor Johann Jakob Scherer, it was merged with the "Trade and Customs Department" 24 years later, in 1873, and renamed the "Finance and Customs Department". This name was kept for over 100 years, until the government decided to standardise all department names at the end of the 1970s. From then on, the names of all seven departments had to contain the terms "federal" and "department". Finally, the FDF came into being under Federal Councillor Georges-André Chevallaz. Customs, or rather the "Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS" to be precise, remained part of the department during this name change.

 

https://www.efd.admin.ch/content/efd/en/home/the-fdf/karin-keller-sutter/former-heads-of-department.html