AFBS 50th Ordinary General Assembly
On 14 June 2022 the Association conducted
its 50th Ordinary General Assembly with a Festive Act. On this
occasion the members and invitees were shown a video which summarises the
developments of the Association and the financial sector in Switzerland within
the past 50 years.
Info: Media Release HERE
and Video HERE
Legislation and Regulation: Switzerland
FINMA
On 9 May 2022 FINMA opened consultation
on its amendments of the FINMA Financial Market Infrastructure Ordinance
(FinMIO-FINMA) with deadline for comments on 5 July 2022. The two major changes
concern the content of reporting of derivative transactions and criteria defining
which interest rate derivatives are subject to settlement.
Info: DE
FR
IT
EN
FINMA encourages banks to remind
portfolio managers and trustees to apply for a FINMA license until the end of
the year. The latest recommended date by FINMA to transmit the license
application to a supervisory organisation is 30 June 2022. Missing the deadline
to apply for the license results in unauthorised commercial activity.
Info: HERE
On 24 May 2022 the FINMA Small Banks Panel
took place. The presentations covered topics such as: *an overview of activities
by FinTechs in the realm of DLT; *a résumé of the past two years since the
implementation of the Small Banks Regime; *the market consolidation and crypto
assets.
Info: Small Banks Regime HERE
and Panel HERE
Implementation of OECD Minimum Taxation
The Federal Council adopted its dispatch
to Parliament regarding the implementation of the OECD Minimum Taxation. There
will be distribution of income of the top-up-tax between cantons and
confederation; there will be no Swiss Finish; * levy of tax shall be
coordinated among cantons to avoid excessive administrative burden for
companies; * revenue shall be attributed to those cantons where
undertaxation originates; * the measures will enter into force in 2024,
there will be no retroactive application. The Ordinance will be published in August
for comments; it aims at assuring a coordinated implementation avoiding cantons
to legislate themselves.
Info: DE FR IT EN
Liquidity Ordinance
The SBA and the AFBS have been commenting the Federal Council's proposal for revision of the Liquidity Ordinance. The Federal Council proposed amendments relating to the TBTF regime of large banks. In addition, it proposed an amendment regarding liquidity coverage for trade finance banks which the AFBS, together with other Associations, reviewed with more specific measures. The proposal submitted by the associations suggests transposing the Basel III standards in the same way as did the EU, which means that short term lending does not require long term adequacy.
Info: AFBS: LINK and SBA: LINK
Consultation on Non-financial reporting and due diligence and reporting obligations on the area of conflict minerals
The Federal Council published for
comments its draft regarding 1) non-financial-reporting and 2) due diligence
and reporting obligations in the area of “conflict minerals” and “child labour”
of companies in Switzerland. A company will be held to deliver a non-financial-report, if the specified
requirements are fulfilled: In case of violation of the reporting obligation
there can be fees of up to 100,000 CHF.
The baseline for the climate-related reports should be made according to the
TCFD-reporting, as it is internationally acknowledged and therefore facilitates
comparability.
Info: DE FR IT
MROS Annual Report 2021
On 19 May MROS published its annual
report for the year 2021. The number of suspicious activity reports (SAR)
increased by 12% to a total of 5,964 reports. 90% of the SARs were reported by
banks and fraud was the most suspected predicate among SARs. The regular
developments discussed in the report include the amended AMLA, the Distributed
Ledger Technology Act as well as the additional competences given to MROS for
international cooperation.
Among other additional information, MROS provided five use cases where the
reporting financial intermediaries had done exemplary preliminary work.
Info: Full report: DE
FR
IT
EN
Revised Apprenticeship
As of Summer 2023, the revised banking
apprenticeship for commercial apprentices will come into force. The new
apprenticeship will focus on sustainability and action skills. Details of the
industry content will be finalised by the Steering Committee of the banks. The
possibility to get a diploma for professional maturity after the apprenticeship
will stay in place as it has proven to be an important and popular option.
Info: SBA: DE
FR
IT
COVID-19
The SBA updated its recommendations
regarding repayment of COVID19 loans. Confederation and trade associations
agreed to maintain the deadline for start of repayment of 31 March 2022, as set
in 2021. This concerns COVID19 loans of up to CHF 500,000. Parties also agreed
that certain sectors, which are particularly hard hit, should be granted
extended deadlines. Therefore, the guidelines have been amended in point 28.
Begin of repayment should be delayed by six to twelve months, at discretion of
the individual lender.
Info: SBA: DE
FR
IT
and Federal Council: DE
FR
IT
Work From Home
The
regimes governing fiscal and social-security treatment of cross-border
commuters working from home varies. Exemptions available during the pandemic
have expired at the end of June. The social security authorities of all EEA
countries and Switzerland agreed to extend the "no-impact" position in
view of determining the applicable social security legislation until 31
December 2022. France and Switzerland agreed to extend
the exemptions until 31 October 2022.
Info: Federal Social Insurance Office: DE
FR
IT
// France-Switzerland: DE
FR
IT
Legislation and Regulation: International
Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Sanctions
The EU's sixth package of sanctions the provision of audit and business consulting services. The bans on the provision of services to trusts have been made more precise. In addition, the EU is prohibiting businesses from advertising in content produced or broadcast by certain Russian media such as Russia Today or Sputnik.
On
10 June, the Federal Council decided to adopt these measures and instructed the
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) to adapt
the Ordinance on measures in connection with the situation in Ukraine. Within
the scope of its competences, the EAER also approved the sanctioning of over
100 further Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities. The Swiss list of
sanctioned individuals and entities is thus identical to that of the EU. In
addition, the exclusion of four new Russian and Belarusian banks - including
Sberbank, Russia's largest bank - from the SWIFT financial messaging service
was approved.
Info: Federal Council: DE FR IT EN; European Commission: EN
EU: CRD6
The
EU Commission issued a proposal for revision of the Credit Risk Directive CRD6.
Beyond provisions governing the management of credit risk, the draft also
proposes to revise the regulation for market access by third country financial
intermediaries. Art 21(c) of the draft regulation proposes to require third
country financial firms intending to offer financial services in an EU country
to establish a branch and to apply for authorisation. The requirement applies
to a broad range of financial services extending beyond mere lending and
including deposit taking, portfolio management and advice, safekeeping and
administration of securities, issuing electronic money.
Info: draft CRD 6: LINK and Annex I: LINK
Digital
NCSC Semi-annual report
The newest semi-annual report by the NCSC
has shown that cyberattacks are more prevalent from year to year even though
the forms change. In the reviewed period the NCSC has received 11,480 reports.
The most frequent incidents included frauds, ransomware, data leaks, software
component vulnerabilities and phishing. In whole of 2021 the NCSC received
21,714 reports, roughly doubling the previous year’s number.
Info: DE
FR
IT
EN
FS-CSC
The AFBS encourages its member banks to join the FS-CSC in order to improve cyber resilience of the Swiss Financial Sector. Application for membership can be made through the webpage www.fscsc.ch or by email at info@fscsc.ch.
Sustainable Finance
SSF Market Study
Sustainable Finance has continued its
growth of the last decade, as it achieved a double-digit growth in 2021. The
total measured Swiss Sustainable Investment (SI) market was worth CHF 1,982.7
billion; its growth rate was 30% compared to the previous year. Approximately
ten percent of this growth can be attributed to the positive market
performance. Institutional investors make up 72% of the total SI volume, out of
which the vast majority belongs to insurance companies and public and corporate
pension funds.
Among the approaches to sustainable investments there were some changes in the
ranking as exclusion is now the most used approach. It is applied to 73% of the
reported SI. It is followed by ESG integration (67%), ESG Engagement (59%) and
Norms-based Screening (54%). The highest growth rate can be attributed to
sustainable thematic investments, with a rate of 157% and is now an approach in
10% of the SI.
Info: HERE
Last Minute
- The Federal Council adopts its report on Switzerland 2035 which identifies key questions on the future of the country: DE FR IT
- The social partners of the banking sector have come to an agreement on a revised collective labour agreement: DE FR
- 44 banking institutions have been tested through a wage equality analysis conducted by SFLoBa (Social Partnership Office for Equal Pay in the Banking Industry). All institutions have passed the test and have been certified by SFLoBa. The interim results show a mean value of the net wage difference of -4.2 per cent towards women DE FR
- The Swiss Banking Ombudsman published its annual report: DE FR IT EN