Hans-Rudolf Merz (born 10 November 1942) is a Swiss politician of FDP.The Liberals and former member of the Swiss Federal Council. He was the head of the Federal Department of Finance (the Swiss finance minister) from 2004 to 2010 and President of the Swiss Confederation for 2009. On 6 August 2010 Merz announced his resignation for October 2010.Born in Herisau, Switzerland, he studied at Hochschule St. Gallen and graduated in 1971 with a DEA's degree and as Dr. rer. publ.