Legal Compass: FINMA Authorization for Independent Asset Managers

• Switzerland

23-08-2022

The deadline, 31 December 2022, is approaching. By then, all Swiss asset managers who wish to remain active in their profession must submit a licence application to FINMA.

On 1 January 2020, the Financial Institutions Act "FinIA" and the Financial Services Act "FinSA" entered into force. While the FinSA sets forth uniform conditions for financial services of all kinds, the FinIA specifies uniform requirements for asset managers, trustees, managers of collective assets, fund management companies and securities firms. It particularly affects independent asset managers, who were previously able to carry out their activities without a licence and are now subject to a licence requirement following the entry into force of the Act.

In principle, all persons who invest and manage assets for the account of third parties on a professional basis must obtain a licence from the supervisory authority.

The requirements for financial service providers are formulated as cross-sectorally as possible, thus creating a level playing field for supervised entities. The licence granted to an asset managers will be regarded as a seal of quality in the future.

Asset managers who commenced their professional activities before 1 January 2020 must submit a licence application to FINMA by the end of 2022. Until the decision on the licence, they may continue their activity provided they are affiliated to a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) in accordance with Art. 24 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and are thus supervised thereby.

Those asset managers who have newly commenced their professional activity in the course of 2020 must fulfil the licensing requirements as of the commencement of their activity, apart from the requirement of affiliation to a supervisory organisation (SO).

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