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Overview
The approach taken in Switzerland to fintech continues to be a supportive and positive one, both by the government and by the ecosystem. The existing rules are applied in a way that enables a lively fintech scene to grow. Furthermore, rules were and are about to be changed to enable, for example, crowdfunding to operate more effectively, banks to do a fully digital onboarding of clients and financial institutions to experiment with new business models. The Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA) set up a special fintech desk and declared that it intends to structure regulation in a technology-neutral way. The Swiss government initiated a crypto initiative and set up a working group for blockchain and initial coin offering (ICOs) in January 2018, which led to a comprehensive report in December 2018. This in turn led to a proposal for a new act (the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Act), the first part of which became effective on 1 February 2021 and the second part became effective on 1 August 2021. For example, in the canton of Zug, even taxes can be paid in Bitcoin.
A summary of the regulatory framework in force today can be found on FINMA’s website.2 Regular updates on developments are available on the FinTech News website.3
The regulatory framework (equally applicable to all financial service providers in Switzerland) is particularly based on the Federal Act on Banks and Savings (the Banking Act), the new Financial Institutions Act (FIA, which became effective on 1 January 2020), the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and the Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FMIA). In addition, provisions of the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) or the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UCA) may be applicable. FINMA and the Swiss federal government have on various occasions emphasised that they regard innovation as key for the Swiss financial centre…
