SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter Ch Hsu, Daniel Flühmann and Tiffany Ender, Bär & Karrer
11.2 New Products or Alternative Solutions Generally speaking, measures to address emerging risks can be taken at the level of the legislature or by the insurance undertakings themselves. Risks can, eg, be countered by means of regulatory prohibitions, restrictions or conditions regarding the handling of certain technologies or, indirectly, by the introduction of strict liability in favour of the injured (ie, as is the case in the field of nuclear energy). From the perspective of the insurance undertaking, new policy types have been developed in respect of emerging risks, such as policies to cover computer and network hacking risks, data or identity theft or loss of reputation. The Swiss market still shows sub- stantial room for development in the area of emerging risks. 12. Developments in Insurance Law 12.1 Significant Legislative or Regulatory Developments On 1 January 2024, the revised ISA and ISO entered into force. The revised ISA introduced, in particular, the following amendments to the law: • specific disclosure rules for investment-linked life insurance products (eg, requirement for base infor- mation leaflet) and rules of conduct for the distribu- tion of such products (Article 39a et seq ISA); • new distinction of “professional policyholders” – insurance undertakings that provide services to professional policyholders only benefit from various regulatory reliefs (Article 30a et seq ISA); • expanded information duty of untied insurance intermediaries to inform the policyholder about certain circumstances (see Article 45 and Article 45b ISA); • organisational requirement and information duty of insurance undertakings and insurance intermediar- ies regarding conflicts of interest (Article 14a and 45a ISA); • regulation on restructuring and bankruptcy of insurance undertakings (Article 52a et seq ISA); • the power of the Swiss Federal Council to exempt insurance undertakings from supervision under
certain conditions (Article 2 paragraph 5 litera b ISA) in order to safeguard the potential for innova- tions within the Swiss financial market; • new regulation on insurance group supervision (Article 67 ISA); • new legal basis for the Swiss Federal Council to subject Swiss reinsurance branches of foreign insurers to a FINMA licence requirement (with supervisory reliefs) should this be required in the future because of recognised international stand- ards (Article 2 paragraph 5 litera a ISA); and • insurance special purpose companies domiciled in Switzerland expressly listed as subject to insurance supervision law according to Article 2 paragraph 1 litera e ISA (insurance special purpose companies are companies that underwrite risks from insurance undertakings and cover them by issuing subordi- nated debt instruments (eg, cat bonds)). The proposal of the Swiss Federal Council to require insurance undertakings and insurance intermediar- ies to affiliate with an Ombudsman’s office has been rejected by the Swiss Parliament. Moreover, on 1 September 2024, the revised ISO-FIN- MA entered into force. The ISO-FINMA was amended to reflect the changes to the revised ISA and ISO, including, eg, the provisions concerning the Swiss Solvency Test (SST), tied assets and technical provi- sions. In parallel, various FINMA circulars in the area of insurance will be amended or abolished, as appli- cable (eg, FINMA-Circular 2024/01 SST amended and in force since 1 September 2024). The FINMA Insolvency Ordinance, which entered into force on 1 October 2025, replaced the former IBO- FINMA and applies more broadly to all financial insti- tutions. Furthermore, on 5 December 2025, following the consultation procedure that concluded in Sep- tember 2025, the Swiss Federal Council submitted to Parliament a dispatch on proposed amendments to the ISO as part of the reform of the ISA. The amend- ments primarily aim to remove unintended competitive disadvantages for Swiss reinsurance undertakings, in particular by exempting reinsurance intermediaries from the obligation to register with FINMA’s register of insurance intermediaries.
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