Revised FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance

Share on:

On 18 July 2018, FINMA published its revised Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (the AMLO-FINMA). The revised AMLO-FINMA is noteworthy not so much for what it contains, but rather for what it does not contain.

By Katrin Ivell (Reference: CapLaw-2018-45)

 

On 18 July 2018, FINMA published its revised Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (the AMLO-FINMA). During the public consultation period (Vernehmlassungsprozess), 29 parties (mostly banks and self-regulation organizations, but also e.g. Transparency International Switzerland and the Swiss Law Society (Schweizerischer Anwaltsverband)) commented on (and criticized) what was then the draft AMLO-FINMA. Among the planned changes that attracted particular criticism featured (1) the mandatory verification of the beneficial owner of assets, and (2) the mandatory periodic review (and, if necessary, update) of the customer information (KYC). Some parties doubted that there was a sufficient legal basis for FINMA to introduce these obligations by way of including them in the AMLO-FINMA. Recognizing that an introduction of these obligations might consequently lead to increased legal uncertainty, FINMA dropped these two proposals for inclusion in the AMLO-FINMA. Instead, they now feature as proposals in the Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA) which is currently also undergoing a revision process. Another notable provision that did not survive the draft stage of AMLO-FINMA relates to FINMA’s proposal to include business relationships that involve other service providers among the catalogue of “increased risk”-examples. FINMA’s proposal specifically singled out scenarios where third parties are involved (1) in the referral of the business relationship to the bank (e.g. finders, introducers) or (2) in its management (such as external asset managers) for constituting potential “increased risk”-factors.

The result is a revised AMLO-FINMA that contains new (or revised) provisions relating, among other things, to the following:

  • Requirements for the global monitoring of risks;
  • Mandatory risk management measures where domiciliary companies or complex structures are used and where there are links with high-risk countries; and
  • The identification measures for cash transactions (specifically, the previous threshold of CHF 25,000 has been lowered to the FATF level of CHF 15,000)

Somewhat unusually, it is already foreseeable that some of the provisions of the AMLO-FINMA that have now been revised may need to be revised yet again even before they are due to enter into force. This is because the AMLA is also currently undergoing a revision process (see above). One of the proposed changes to the AMLA concerns the simplification of what is currently a two-tiered system of notification of suspicious activity (one voluntary regime, one mandatory regime) into one mandatory notification reporting system of suspicious activities. If the changes to the AMLA will survive the public consultation period and enter into force, the provisions of the revised AMLO-FINMA that deal with the voluntary reporting of suspicious activities will become obsolete and will have to be deleted.

Subject to the comments made above, the revised AMLO-FINMA will enter into force on 1 January 2020, together with (1) what is anticipated by then to be the revised AMLA; and (2) the revised Agreement on the Swiss Banks’ Code of Conduct with regard to the Exercise of Due Diligence (VSB).

Katrin Ivell (katrin.ivell@homburger.ch)

Discover more articles

We provide up-to-date information on legal and regulatory developments regarding the capital markets, publish concise articles on developments in the Swiss and international financial markets, and announce recent deals and forthcoming events.

  • BX DIGITAL: THE FIRST DLT TRADING FACILITY IN SWITZERLAND

    BX Digital AG received the first license from FINMA to operate a DLT trading facility on 12 March 2025. It is also the first financial market infrastructure for the trading and settlement of DLT securities based on a public permissionless blockchain.


  • Proposed Amendment of Swiss Capital Adequacy Ordinance regarding AT1 Instruments – a First Assessment by Practitioners

    On 6 June 2025, the Swiss Federal Council published proposed amendments to the Swiss Capital Adequacy Ordinance, including „more precise information on the term and suspension of interest payments for AT1 capital instruments.“ The authors question the necessity of these changes and warn against using opaque terms and „hard triggers“ without any exemptions.


  • Zürcher Kantonalbank‘s issuance of EUR 500 million Bonds  

    On 8 July 2025, Zürcher Kantonalbank successfully completed its issuance of EUR 500 million 2.762%. Fixed Rate Bonds due 2030 (the Bonds). The senior unsecured bonds have been issued under Zürcher Kantonalbank‘s Swiss base prospectus consisting of the applicable summary and securities note for the issue of bonds and STNs of Zürcher Kantonalbank dated 20…


  • Merger of Aebi Schmidt Group and The Shyft Group with Listing on NASDAQ

    On 1 July 2025, the Swiss specialty vehicle manufacturer Aebi Schmidt announced the successful completion of its merger with The Shyft Group, thereby creating a world-class specialty vehicles leader with sales of approx. USD 2 billion per year and 70 locations worldwide. The shares of the combined Aebi Schmidt Group (NASDAQ: AEBI) started trading on…


  • Ultima Capital‘s Contribution of Nammos Mykonos

    Ultima Capital SA (Ultima), a Swiss luxury real estate owner and operator listed on BX Swiss, conducted its second contribution in kind of real estate assets by its largest shareholder Yoda PLC (Yoda). The contributed assets are pertaining to the Nammos Village and restaurant real estate in Mykonos, Greece. The assets were valued at EUR 133.7…


  • Raiffeisen‘s Inaugural Issuance of Green Bonds

    On 27 June 2025, Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft successfully completed its issuance of CHF 250 million 0.785% fixed rate green bonds due 2030 under its issuance program for money market instruments, bonds and green bonds. This issuance marks the first issuance of a green bond by Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft.  Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft acted as Sole Lead Manager…