Recommendations

For the canton

The canton holds the most important levers for the slow trends. Its first task is to secure the supply of qualified staff. The association of CSVN with SUPSI from 1 September 2026 creates a platform for a coordinated programme of training for the banking and financial sector.¹ The canton should use it to develop, together with USI, a programme for career changers and for the retraining of employees whose functions are automated, and to create specialized courses in wealth planning for Italian families, in the regulation of Kryptowerte und Digital Assets and in sustainable finance. A programme of scholarships or relocation support for graduates who stay in or return to Ticino would address the loss of young residents that USTAT has documented.²

The second task concerns taxation. The canton should complete the reduction of the top income tax rate approved in 2024 and avoid new increases in the taxation of wealth and of high incomes. It should also examine the competitiveness of its lump-sum taxation and of its inheritance and gift taxes for the families that the financial centre wants to attract. The third task is institutional. The canton should take the initiative, together with the city and the industry, to create a single body for the financial centre on the model of other Swiss centres, with a mandate to represent Ticino's financial sector in Bern, Rome and Brussels, to collect data and to coordinate promotion. Such a body could also commission the statistics that the financial centre lacks, starting with a regular estimate of assets managed in Ticino.

For the city

The City of Lugano has made itself visible through Plan ₿ and through its urban investments. Its first recommendation concerns continuity. The second phase of Plan ₿ from 2026 to 2030 should be used to anchor the start-ups in the regulated financial sector, connecting them with the banks, the universities and the CSCS, so that the visibility of the first phase turns into licensed firms and qualified jobs once the new federal licences are available.³ The city should also apply to Kryptowerte und Digital Assets the same standards of compliance and reputational risk management that it expects from the banks, since a scandal in this field would damage the whole financial centre.

The second recommendation concerns finances and taxation. The increase of the communal multiplier in the budget for 2026 was justified by the city's financial situation, but it runs counter to the goal of attracting wealthy residents and companies.⁴ The city should seek to restore its multiplier to a competitive level as soon as its finances allow, should give priority to investments that improve the quality of life and the attractiveness of the city as a place to work, and should use the office space of the new sports and events complex to attract financial and technology firms.⁵ The third recommendation concerns the city's role as host. Lugano should support the Lugano Finance Forum, the Plan ₿ Forum and the events of the professional associations as occasions to bring Italian and international clients and professionals to the city.

Notes

1. Associazione Bancaria Ticinese, 21 August 2026 (above). ↩
2. RSI, "Verso un Paese per vecchi" (above). ↩
3. laRegione, 3 March 2026 (above); Federal Council, 22 October 2025 (above). ↩
4. laRegione, 23 October 2025 (above). ↩
5. HRS Real Estate (above). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.