FINMA authorisation, SRO membership and the FinIA licence categories, with the substance, capital and fit-and-proper tests each approval actually requires.
Our Financial Regulation & Licensing servicesFINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, decides who may carry on a regulated financial activity in Switzerland and under what conditions. Two routes account for most projects. A prudential licence (a bank, a securities firm, a fund management company, or a portfolio-manager or trustee licence under the Financial Institutions Act, FinIA) is granted and supervised by FINMA itself. An anti-money-laundering affiliation with a recognised self-regulatory organisation is the lighter route for intermediaries that handle client money without crossing the prudential threshold.
Which gate applies turns on what the business does, not what it is called, and getting that wrong is the most expensive mistake in Swiss financial licensing. The guides here work through the licence categories, the authorisation process and its timeline, and the point where the SRO route ends and a FINMA licence begins. Financial regulation has been the Firm's core focus since 2014.
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FINMA Licence vs SRO Membership: Which Applies: ReadWhat FINMA is, what it supervises and how to check a provider against its register and warning list — Switzerland's financial regulator explained.
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BankingDescribe your situation in a line or two. A partner replies within one business day, in English, German, French, Spanish or Italian. The first conversation is free and carries no obligation.
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