SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas Morscher and Lukas Staub, Lenz & Staehelin
11. Open Banking 11.1 Regulation of Open Banking
any). To classify an NFT as a payment, utility or asset token, and to determine the regulatory consequences (see 2.2 Regulatory Regime and 10.3 Classification of Blockchain Assets ), it is therefore necessary to identify the rights it represents. As a rule of thumb, NFT projects where each NFT is actually unique and not fungible would not trigger licensing requirements in Switzerland. 10.13 Stablecoins Currently, there is no specific legislation on stable - coins in Switzerland. However, in 2024 FINMA issued guidance on how they apply current Swiss financial market laws to stablecoins as a subgroup of payment tokens. FINMA in particular clarified that under their practice: • the issuer of stablecoins has to identify each token-holder at any time, which, according to FINMA, in practice should be enforced by con - tractual and technical limitations on transfer (ie, whitelisting); and • a stablecoin with a redemption claim qualifies cus - tomarily either as the acceptance of deposits from the public requiring a licence under the Banking Act, unless an exemption applies, or as a collective investment scheme subject to the requirements under the collective investment schemes act. FINMA further noted that many of the existing Swiss stablecoins rely on an exemption from the Banking Act, whereby a regulated bank guarantees the out - standing liabilities to clients. FINMA also set out a list of requirements for banks granting such guarantees. The Swiss government proposed, in late 2025, the introduction of a new payment institution licence spe - cifically for payment activities including issuing stable - coins. This would allow the acceptance of deposits for the purposes of issuing a stablecoin without obtaining a full-fledged banking licence or relying on the limited exemptions (such as the bank guarantee). The pro - posal also stipulates that the issuer does not neces - sarily need to implement whitelisting for complying with AML laws but may rely on alternative measures including blacklisting, subject to certain requirements. The proposals are currently subject to public consulta - tion and will not enter into force before 2028.
Swiss banks have adopted the open banking concept and are implementing innovative business models, particularly in relation to banking infrastructure. This infrastructure may include open banking interfaces (application programming interfaces; APIs), identity and security management systems, information and transaction platforms, finance management systems and financial compliance systems. In May 2023, a group of approximately 40 banks signed a memo - randum of understanding (MoU) on multibanking to foster the adoption of open banking with the goal of enabling initial multibanking offerings for individuals by mid-2025. In particular, the MoU aims to improve interoperability and data exchanges between banks, fintechs and other financial institutions, thereby pro - viding customers with a comprehensive overview of their finances. Currently, there is no specific legislation governing open banking in Switzerland (unlike, for example, in the EU). However, the Federal Council set targets for the adoption of open banking in December 2022 and continuously monitors the progress and the eventual need for specific legislation. In its recent assessments in June 2024 and December 2025, it concluded that the targets have not been fully met. The Federal Coun - cil is now working together with industry associations on more specific indicators to better assess the pro - gress and expressly stated that introducing manda - tory data sharing requirements remains an option in the future. Given the importance of digital transformation for banks and the large size of Switzerland’s established financial sector, fintech organisations specialising in banking infrastructure have access to a large pool of potential customers. The need to meet customer expectations and deliver financial benefits (in terms of increased revenue and reduced operational costs) has accelerated the adoption of open banking solutions, including those based on bank as a platform (BaaP). 11.2 Concerns Raised by Open Banking Open banking raises several concerns in areas such as data protection, IT security and Swiss banking
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