Swiss securities
firm licence (FinIA)

If you deal in securities for your own account on a significant scale, make markets, underwrite issues, or execute trades for clients in or from Switzerland, you need a securities-firm licence under the Financial Institutions Act, a substantially heavier authorisation than a portfolio-manager licence, with CHF 1.5 million capital and direct FINMA supervision. We confirm the category, resolve the FinMIA trading-venue line, build the prudential file, and carry it through to approval.

Marcus AltenburgMarcus Altenburg, Managing Partner Published Updated
At a glance

Authorisation to trade securities.

Dealing, market-making, underwriting and client execution: licensed and supervised directly by FINMA.

Legal basis
FinIA (SR 954.1)
Who it applies to
Securities dealers, market makers, underwriters
Minimum capital
CHF 1.5 million
Supervision
FINMA, directly
Typical timeline
8–12 months once the file is ready
Is your activity in scope?
The essentials

What the securities firm licence is, and who needs it

A Swiss securities-firm licence (the category under the Financial Institutions Act that replaced the securities dealer) authorises a firm to trade securities professionally: dealing for its own account on a significant scale, market-making, underwriting, or executing for clients. It carries CHF 1.5 million minimum capital and direct FINMA supervision. Carrying on the activity without it is an unlawful regulated activity. Defining the licence is simple; the work is the prudential organisation behind it.

Who needs it

  • proprietary traders dealing in securities on a significant scale;
  • market makers quoting firm prices on a continuous basis;
  • underwriters placing issues on a firm-commitment basis;
  • firms executing securities trades in the name of clients.

Who does not

Managing individual client portfolios held at a custodian is the lighter portfolio-manager licence, not this one. Operating a trading venue is a financial-market-infrastructure authorisation under FinMIA, a different regime again. We confirm which side of each line you sit on before any filing.

The boundary

Securities trading: in scope, and out

The licence turns on the activity: trading securities professionally, for the market or for clients. These distinctions decide whether you need a securities-firm licence, a different authorisation, or none.

Needs a FinIA securities-firm licence

Professional securities trading and placement

  • Proprietary dealing: trading securities for your own account on a significant, market-relevant scale.
  • Market-making: quoting firm bid and offer prices on a continuous basis.
  • Underwriting: taking issues on a firm-commitment basis and offering them to the public.
  • Client execution: taking and routing client orders in securities in their name.
A different Swiss authorisation
No securities-firm licence needed
  • Trading only your own assets, not on a market-relevant scale
  • Pure investment advice without execution or principal risk

“Significant scale” and principal risk are read on the facts. Confirm the characterisation before relying on it.

How it runs

From scoping to FINMA approval

A deliverable-driven process, built to FINMA’s direct prudential standard. Per-step timings are indicative and often overlap; the FINMA review sits inside the eight-to-twelve-month range.

  1. 1–3 weeks

    Scoping & characterisation

    Confirming the activity is a securities-firm activity, resolving the FinMIA trading-venue line, and sizing the real capital and own-funds requirement.

  2. 3–6 weeks

    Entity, capital & people

    Swiss entity and seat, the paid-in CHF 1.5 million capital, the qualified managers and their fit-and-proper evidence, and the FINMA-recognised auditor.

  3. 6–12 weeks

    Prudential & AML framework

    Risk management, trading controls, capital-adequacy and own-funds model, compliance and internal control, IT and operations, and the full AML suite.

  4. 4–8 months

    FINMA review & decision

    Submission to FINMA, handling its prudential queries, and carrying the file through to the authorisation decision.

  5. Ongoing

    Go-live & supervision cycle

    Operational integration, capital and own-funds reporting, and the annual regulatory audit, which we can continue to run.

Budget

What it costs

Two layers, as with any FINMA authorisation. FINMA charges authorisation and recurring supervisory fees against its tariff, and a FINMA-recognised audit firm audits the licence each year. The larger first-year cost is standing up the entity, the CHF 1.5 million capital and the own-funds buffer, the prudential governance and the application file, a heavier build than the lighter licences.

We quote a fixed advisory budget in writing against a confirmed scope, so the number is settled before any work begins. The value is a file that passes FINMA the first time.

Ask for a fixed budget
What you need

What the licence requires

The securities-firm licence rests on capital, organisation and people, to a prudential standard. To be authorised you need:

  • a Swiss legal entity with CHF 1.5 million paid-in capital, plus own funds scaled to your risk exposures;
  • qualified managers, fit and proper, with relevant trading and governance experience;
  • risk management, trading controls, compliance and internal control, properly separated;
  • a complete AML framework supervised within FINMA’s direct supervision;
  • a FINMA-recognised auditor, robust IT and operations, and a credible business plan.

When this is the wrong licence

The scope map lists the off-ramps, and two of them trip firms up. Managing client portfolios held at a custodian is the portfolio-manager licence at CHF 100,000, not the securities-firm licence at CHF 1.5 million. Firms sometimes over-license, paying for the heavier authorisation they do not need. And operating something that matches client orders multilaterally can cross from securities-firm activity into a trading venue under FinMIA, a different and heavier infrastructure licence. Firms sometimes under-license, missing the venue characterisation entirely. We place you on the right side of each line, in writing, before you build a file against the wrong one.

Why Goldblum

How we run the securities-firm licence

Most securities-firm applications stand or fall on the prudential organisation (capital model, risk controls, fit-and-proper) rather than the capital figure itself. That is the part we have handled since 2014.

10 yrs

Recognised by IFLR1000

IFLR1000, a leading international directory of financial and corporate practices, has recognised us for a decade for banking, finance and regulatory work.

Line drawn

FinMIA question resolved first

We settle the securities-firm-versus-trading-venue characterisation in writing at scoping, so you build the right licence rather than discovering the wrong one mid-review.

Ongoing

We carry the supervision

We can run the ongoing compliance and AML function and manage the annual FINMA-recognised audit, keeping the licence in good standing year after year.

Related

Next in this practice

Overview

FINMA authorisation

All the Swiss licence categories in one place, and how to tell which one your activity needs.

FINMA authorisation
Deposit-takers

Banking & FinTech licence

Full banking authorisation, and the lighter FinTech deposit licence for up to CHF 100 million of public funds.

Banking & FinTech licence
Portfolio managers

Asset manager licence

The lighter FinIA licence for managers of individual client portfolios held at a custodian.

Asset manager licence
FAQ

Swiss securities firm licence: FAQ

01Who needs a Swiss securities firm licence?
A firm that, on a commercial basis, deals in securities for its own account on a significant scale, makes markets, underwrites issues, or executes trades in securities for clients in or from Switzerland. Under the Financial Institutions Act, this is the securities-firm category (formerly the securities dealer) and it requires a FINMA licence with direct FINMA supervision. The line that matters is the activity: trading securities professionally for the market or for clients, not merely managing individual portfolios held at a custodian, which is the lighter portfolio-manager licence. We confirm which side of that line your model sits on before any filing, because the securities-firm licence is a substantially heavier authorisation.
02What is the minimum capital for a securities firm?
CHF 1.5 million, fully paid in, as of June 2026: the base floor for the licence. On top of that, a securities firm must meet ongoing own-funds requirements that scale with its balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet exposures, so a firm taking significant positions or counterparty risk will need considerably more than the floor; larger firms reach CHF 10 million and beyond. The CHF 1.5 million is far above the CHF 100,000 for a portfolio manager because a securities firm trades on its own book and takes on market and counterparty risk that a portfolio manager, whose clients’ assets stay at a custodian, does not. We size the real capital requirement against your activity, not just the floor.
03How is a securities firm different from a portfolio manager?
A portfolio manager exercises discretion over individual client assets that stay with a custodian bank, takes no positions of its own, and needs CHF 100,000 in capital with supervision by a Supervisory Organisation. A securities firm trades securities (for its own account on a significant scale, as a market maker, as an underwriter, or executing for clients), takes the associated market and counterparty risk, needs CHF 1.5 million in capital, and is supervised directly by FINMA. They are different licences for different activities. Firms sometimes assume the cheaper portfolio-manager licence covers trading activity; it does not. We map your actual activity to the correct category before you commit budget to the wrong one.
04What activities require the securities-firm licence?
Four principal ones, each independently triggering it. Dealing in securities for your own account on a significant scale, in a way that could affect the market; acting as a market maker, quoting firm bid and offer prices on a continuous basis; underwriting securities and offering them to the public on a firm-commitment basis; and executing trades in securities in the name of clients, taking and routing their orders. Any of these, carried on commercially, brings you within the licence. The boundaries turn on detail (what counts as “significant scale”, whether you take principal risk), which is where a written assessment earns its place before an application is filed.
05How does this connect to trading-venue rules under FinMIA?
Closely, and confusing the two is a common error. Operating a trading venue itself (a stock exchange, a multilateral trading facility, or an organised trading facility) is regulated under the Financial Market Infrastructure Act, not the securities-firm licence, and requires its own FINMA authorisation as a financial market infrastructure. A securities firm trades on venues and for clients; it does not, by virtue of its securities-firm licence, operate one. Where a business model blends execution with something that looks like a venue (for example matching client orders multilaterally), the FinMIA line has to be drawn carefully, because the wrong characterisation means the wrong licence. We resolve the securities-firm-versus-infrastructure question as part of the scoping, not after.
06How is a securities firm supervised?
Directly by FINMA, like a bank, not by a Supervisory Organisation. Because a securities firm takes principal and counterparty risk and can affect market integrity, it falls under FINMA’s direct prudential supervision, with the heavier ongoing requirements that implies: own-funds and capital-adequacy reporting, risk management, an audit by a FINMA-recognised audit firm, and the full conduct and organisational obligations. This is a step up from the Supervisory-Organisation model that covers portfolio managers and trustees. The licence is the beginning of a continuing supervisory relationship, and the organisation has to be built to carry it. We build the file and the governance to that standard from the outset.
07How long does a securities firm licence take?
Typically eight to twelve months from a complete file, longer than a portfolio-manager licence because the authorisation is heavier and FINMA supervises directly. The timeline is driven by the depth of the file (the capital and own-funds model, the risk-management and trading-control framework, the fit-and-proper evidence for management, the IT and operational set-up, and the AML framework) and by FINMA’s review rather than a Supervisory Organisation’s. The way to compress it is a complete, coherent dossier that answers the prudential questions before they are asked. We build the full file before submission, so the review is a confirmation rather than a series of gaps.
08Can a foreign securities firm get licensed in Switzerland?
Yes. The licence attaches to a Swiss legal entity with real substance: premises, qualified management resident in practice in Switzerland, capital and governance on the ground. Foreign-owned securities firms can and do obtain the Swiss licence; what FINMA examines is the Swiss entity, its people, its capital and its organisation, together with the fitness and propriety of the owners and management and the adequacy of any group supervision. A foreign group may also need to consider how the Swiss firm fits its consolidated supervision. We incorporate the entity, arrange the substance and assemble the file as one project, and address the cross-border and group dimensions where they arise.
09What ongoing obligations apply once licensed?
Substantial and continuous ones, reflecting direct FINMA supervision. A securities firm must maintain its capital and own funds against its risk exposures, report regularly to FINMA, keep risk management, compliance and internal control properly staffed and separated, undergo an annual audit by a FINMA-recognised audit firm, run a full AML framework, observe the conduct rules, and notify material changes in ownership, management or business model in advance. The licence is a standing relationship with the regulator, not a one-off permission. We can carry the ongoing regulatory calendar and the compliance function after authorisation, so the licence stays in good standing year after year.
10Do we also need AML affiliation separately?
No separate SRO membership is required. A securities firm is a financial intermediary with full anti-money-laundering duties under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, but because it is directly supervised by FINMA, its AML compliance is supervised within that prudential supervision and audited as part of the regulatory audit, not through a separate Self-Regulatory Organisation. You still need the complete AML framework: a risk analysis, KYC and onboarding, transaction monitoring, an AML officer and the policies behind them. We build the AML framework into the licence application and can run it as your external compliance function afterwards.
11Can Goldblum run the securities firm licence project?
Yes, all of it. We confirm that your activity falls within the securities-firm category and resolve the FinMIA trading-venue question, incorporate the Swiss entity and arrange the capital and substance, build the governance, risk-management, trading-control and AML frameworks, assemble the fit-and-proper evidence, and carry the application through FINMA’s direct supervision to approval. After the licence is granted, we can run the ongoing compliance and AML function and manage the annual audit. The securities-firm licence is one of the heavier Swiss authorisations, and most of the work is the prudential organisation behind it, which is the part we have handled since 2014.

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