SWITZERLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Kilian Schärli, Reto Luthiger, Andrea Trost and Diana Lafita, MLL Legal
poses. Revolut is an example of a foreign bank in the fintech sector that ended up establishing a physical presence in Switzerland, now hold - ing a licence as a Swiss representative office. Furthermore, BBVA SA, part of a Spanish group, has a long-standing presence in the Swiss mar - ket, holding a fully fledged banking licence. In Switzerland, BBVA has expanded its offerings to include investments in digital assets and online banking and investment applications. Swiss Regulatory Trends The main regulatory trends in the Swiss fintech space are as follows. • FINMA clarified, at the end of 2023, that custodial staking services generally require a banking licence under the Banking Act, unless assets are staked with individual segregation. The temporary locking of assets by staking protocols, and the risk that assets could be seized from participants in cases of improper validation (slashing), must be considered, especially by regulated players. This clarification enhances legal certainty and will help the staking industry develop more steadily. • In December 2023, Switzerland and the UK signed the Berne Financial Services Agree - ment to strengthen co-operation between the two financial centres. • In July 2024, FINMA’s issued its stablecoin guidance, clarifying that the Anti-Money Laundering Act also applies to stablecoin secondary market transactions, though some aspects require further clarification. • In March 2024, the limited qualified inves - tor fund (L-QIF) regulation entered into force, providing for a new fund category that does not require a licence and can only be offered to qualified investors. This licence may also
be used by funds issuing tokenised fund shares. • In December 2024, FINMA issued its Guid - ance 08/2024 (Governance and risk man - agement when using artificial intelligence) for supervised institutions (including fintech companies) using AI. FINMA highlights AI risks for supervised institutions, emphasis - ing the importance of data quality, explain - ability, cybersecurity and comprehensive risk management. Institutions must ensure robust governance, ongoing risk assessment and effective management of third-party liabilities and testing protocols. However, it is anticipat - ed that, due to AI’s capabilities in conducting enhanced risk management, it may become a required tool for risk management in the com - ing years, rather than being considered a risk. • In February 2025, the Federal Council pub - lished a comprehensive report on AI regu - lation, outlining three potential regulatory approaches: (i) continuation of topic- and sector-specific regulatory activities; (ii) ratifi - cation of the Council of Europe’s AI Conven - tion; and (iii) alignment with the EU AI Act. The report emphasises the importance of aligning with international standards while preserving Switzerland’s innovation-friendly environment. In particular, the Federal Council confirmed that it will maintain Switzerland’s sector-specific regulatory framework rather than implementing a general cross-sector AI law. Further, it confirmed that it will imple - ment the Council of Europe’s AI Conven - tion through sector-specific amendments to existing Swiss laws. Only key areas relevant to fundamental rights, such as data protec - tion, will be subject to general cross-sectoral regulation. There will, therefore, be no Swiss equivalent to the EU AI Act. In addition to leg - islation, non-legally binding measures (such as self-disclosure agreements) will be devel -
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