Federal Council initiates consultation on amending Financial Market Supervision Act and other legislation concerning international cooperation
Federal Council initiates consultation on amending Financial Market
Supervision Act and other legislation concerning international
cooperation
The Federal Council
Bern, 20. 09.
2024 - During its meeting on 20 September 2024, the Federal Council
decided to initiate a consultation on amending the Financial Market
Supervision Act and other pieces of legislation. The aim of the
legislative amendments is to adapt the Swiss legal framework for
international cooperation in the financial market sector to both the
current circumstances and the needs of Switzerland's financial centre.
The aim of the Swiss authorities' international cooperation in
the financial sector is to ensure that the Swiss financial system
remains open and globally interconnected, thereby protecting clients,
as well as the financial markets' stability, transparency and
integrity. Clarifications by the Federal Department of Finance, in
collaboration with the Federal Department of Justice and Police, the
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Federal
Audit Oversight Authority (FAOA) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB),
revealed that the corresponding legal framework requires some
improvement in this regard.
Consequently, the Federal Council
is proposing the following amendments to the Financial Market
Supervision Act (FINMASA), the Auditor Oversight Act (AOA) and the
National Bank Act (NBA), among others: In order to minimise immediate
risks for the markets, FINMA's administrative assistance procedure is
to be adapted to international developments and streamlined. To this
end, the right to be heard and to appeal in the client procedure is to
be partly or entirely abolished. In addition to complete abolition, a
variant proposed in the consultation is to restrict the client
procedure for certain offences such as market abuse and money
laundering. In any case, the legal protection of those affected would
remain intact. A new legal basis is intended to strengthen cooperation
by FINMA and the SNB in international recognition and audit
procedures. The direct cross-border transmission of information by
supervised financial service providers is to be made more specific in
order to increase legal certainty for institutions and their employees
when transmitting information. In the future, FINMA is to be
authorised to request audits of foreign companies not subject to
supervision and, under certain conditions, to allow foreign
supervisory authorities to conduct such audits in Switzerland. The
legal framework of the AOA regarding international cooperation by the
FAOA is to be harmonised with that of the FINMASA.
The
Federal Council's proposals will further strengthen the reputation and
global role of Switzerland as a financial centre. The consultation
will last until 3 January 2025.
Address for
enquiries
Communications State Secretariat for International
Finance SIF Tel. +41 58 462 46 16, info@sif. admin.
ch
Publisher
The Federal Council
https://www.
admin. ch/gov/en/start. html
State Secretariat for
International Financial Matters
http://www. sif. admin. ch