Under the new Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) entering into force on 1 January 2020, portfolio managers and trustees will have to apply for a license with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and become subject to ongoing prudential supervision by new supervisory organizations (SO). After the Swiss parliament passed the new legislation in June 2018, the Swiss Federal Department of Finance (FDF) released its draft implementing ordinance (Draft-FinIO) for consultation in October 2018. On 6 November 2019, the Federal Council adopted the final version of the Financial Institutions Ordinance (FinIO) as well as the implementing ordinance to the new Financial Services Act, and set the entry into force of the new regulation for 1 January 2020. The final FinIO contains various relevant changes for portfolio managers and trustees compared to the Draft-FinIO. Against the background of the imminent entering into force of the new legislation, the purpose of this article is to provide a summary of the license requirements for portfolio managers and trustees as well as the applicable transitional periods.

By Patrick Schleiffer / Ramona von Riedmatten  (Reference: CapLaw-2019-58)