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.
2010-2015 Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
1974-1979 Georges-André Chevallaz
1873-1875 Wilhelm Matthias Naeff
1872-1873 Johann Jakob Scherer
1869 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel
1864-1867 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel
1862-1863 Melchior Josef Martin Knüsel
1855-1856 Melchior Josef Martin Knüsel
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.