Financial Services Act (FinSA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only, has no legal force and may not be relied on in legal proceedings.
Art. 1 Purpose and subject matter
1 This Act seeks to protect the clients of financial service providers and to establish comparable conditions for the provision of financial services by financial service providers, and thus contributes to enhancing the reputation and competitiveness of Switzerland's financial centre. 2 To this end, it establishes the requirements for honesty, diligence and transparency in the provision of financial services and governs the offering of financial instruments.
Art. 2 Scope of application
1 This Act applies to all of the following, irrespective of their legal form: a. financial service providers; b. client advisers; c. producers and providers of financial instruments. 2 This Act does not apply to: a. the Swiss National Bank; b. the Bank for International Settlements; c. occupational pension schemes and other institutions whose purpose is to serve occupational pensions (occupational pension schemes), as well as employer-sponsored foundations (employer-sponsored welfare funds); employers who manage the assets of their occupational pension schemes; employer and employee associations which manage the assets of their association schemes; d. the following, provided their activities are subject to the Insurance Supervision Act of 17 December 2004 (ISA): 1. insurance companies, 2. insurance intermediaries, 3. ombudsman's offices; e. public insurance institutions in accordance with Article 67 paragraph 1 of the Federal Act of 25 June 1982 on Occupational Old Age, Survivors' and
Para. 2 let. d — SR 961.01 Para. 2 let. e — SR 831.40
Art. 3 Definitions
For the purposes of this Act: a. Financial instruments are: 1. equity securities: – securities in the form of shares including share-like securities allowing for participation or voting rights, such as participation certificates and dividend rights certificates – securities which, on conversion or exercise of the rights evidenced by them, enable the acquisition of equity securities, as set forth above, as soon as they have been registered for conversion, 2. debt instruments: securities not classified as equity securities, 3. units in collective investment schemes in accordance with Articles 7 and 119 of the Collective Investment Schemes Act of 23 June 2006 (CISA), 4. structured products, i.e. capital-protected products, capped return products and certificates, 5. derivatives in accordance with Article 2 letter c of the Financial Market Infrastructure Act of 19 June 2015 (FinMIA), 6. deposits whose redemption value or interest is risk- or price-dependent, excluding those whose interest
let. a let. 3 — SR 951.31 let. a let. 5 — Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology, in force since 1 Aug. 2021 (AS 2021 33, 399; BBl 2020 233). let. a let. 5 — SR 958.1 let. b — Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology, in force since 1 Aug. 2021 (AS 2021 33, 399; BBl 2020 233). let. b — SR 220
Art. 4 Client segmentation
1 Financial service providers shall assign the persons for whom they provide financial services to one of the following segments: a. retail clients; b. professional clients; c. institutional clients. 2 Retail clients are clients who are not professional clients. 3 Professional clients are: a. financial intermediaries as defined in the Banking Act of 8 November 1934 (BankA), the Financial Institutions Act of 15 June 2018 (FinIA) and the CISA; b. supervised insurance institutions; c. foreign clients subject to prudential supervision as the persons listed under a and b above; d. central banks; e. public entities, institutions and foundations with professional treasury operations; f. occupational pension schemes with professional treasury operations and other occupational pension institutions providing professional treasury operations; g. companies with professional treasury operations; h. large companies; i. private investment structures with professional treasury operations created for h
Para. 3 — As professional clients are primarily legal entities, they are referred to herein as ‘it’. Para. 3 let. a — SR 952.0 Para. 3 let. a — SR 954.1 Para. 3 let. a — SR 951.31 Para. 3 let. b — Amended by Annex No 4 of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021, in force since 1 March 2024 (AS 2024 53; BBl 2020 6885). Para. 3 let. e — Amended by Annex No 4 of the FA of 17 Dec. 2021, in force since 1 March 2024 (AS 2024 53; BBl 2020 6885). Para. 4 — As institutional clients are primarily legal entities, they are
Art. 5 Opting out and opting in
1 High-net-worth retail clients and private investment structures created for them may declare that they wish to be treated as professional clients (opting out). 2 Any person who can credibly declare that they satisfy the criteria under a and b below will be deemed high-net-worth within the meaning of paragraph 1: a. on the basis of training, education and professional experience or on the basis of comparable experience in the financial sector, they possess the necessary knowledge to understand the risks associated with the investments and have at their disposal assets of at least CHF 500,000; or b. they have at their disposal assets of at least CHF 2 million. 3 Professional clients within the meaning of Article 4 paragraph 3 letters f and g may declare that they wish to be treated as institutional clients. 4 Swiss and foreign collective investment schemes and their management companies which are not already deemed to be institutional clients within the meaning of Article 4 paragraph 3