New Swiss acts to regulate cross-sector financial products

On 4 November 2015, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the Financial Services Act (FinSA) and on the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA). Both acts are the result of a project to prepare cross-sector regulation of financial products and services and their distribution. In those acts, existing supervisory provisions are being merged and aligned in a cross-sector manner supplemented by new regulations.

The aim of the regulation project is, in addition to the improvement of client protection, to facilitate international market access for Swiss financial service providers. The principal actors of the draft legislation are the Federal Department of Finance in co-operation with the Federal Department of Justice and Police, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. The Swiss Federal Assembly is expected to deal with both acts next year.

Once entered into force, these acts will have a substantial impact on all actors providing financial services in Switzerland or for clients in Switzerland. As a consequence, it will also be relevant for Chinese financial service providers. The following summarizes the central aspects of the new regulation.

Adrian Dörig is a partner and Dominic Wyss is an associate at VISCHER’s banking & financing team; Fiona Gao Yue is an associate on VISCHER’s China desk