Legal Documents and Notes Overview of new regulations
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The purpose of this site is to provide a summary of a selection of new regulations, directives, and initiatives relevant for banking relationships in Switzerland. The site intends to provide information about recent developments valid as of the time of publishing. Please note that the content in this section does not constitute a source of exhaustive information on all regulations applicable to the Swiss financial market. As a trusted partner, we engage with clients directly if we require their action.
The Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA) entered into force on January 1, 2020, with a 2-year transition period until January 1, 2022, for most provisions. Hence, as per January 1, 2022, FinSA is fully applicable. This legislation aims to further regulate the financial market, improve investor protection, and increase transparency on financial products provided in Switzerland or to clients domiciled in Switzerland.
Relevance for Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse is authorized to operate as a bank in Switzerland and we are committed to ensuring compliance with FinSA.
Relevance for Credit Suisse clients
During the transition period from January 1, 2020, until December 31, 2021, clients were informed about their classification as either "Professional" or "Institutional client" under the provision of FinSA. Please note that Credit Suisse considers clients as "Retail client" unless separate information has been provided by December 31, 2021. "Retail clients" benefit from the full investor protection according to FinSA.
More information about FinSA, its client classification framework, and a factsheet is available on credit-suisse.com/finsa.
With the 2018 EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, the European Commission kicked-off a number of legislative measures aimed at making the European Financial System more sustainable. On the investment side, three major regulatory changes are defined: first, the EU Taxonomy Regulation, the centerpiece of the regulatory agenda, establishes a common classification framework for environmentally sustainable economic activities. Second, amendments to the existing European investor protection regulation frameworks (MiFID II, UCITS, AIFMD, IDD, and Solvency II) address environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects from August 2022 onwards. And third, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) introduces new product disclosure standards, among others, for funds and discretionary mandates.
Relevance for Credit Suisse
All three regulatory changes have a substantial influence on Credit Suisse:
- The EU Taxonomy Regulation will be used to further refine environmentally-sustainable product features. Credit Suisse, as a financial institution that manufactures and distributes financial products, will be required to include EU Taxonomy data into its product disclosures.
- Credit Suisse adheres to the existing European investor protection regulation framework. Under the latest amendments, Credit Suisse is required to consider a client’s sustainability preferences as part of the existing requirement to obtain information on a client's investment objectives. The request for, and consideration of, a client's sustainability preferences is being added to the current Credit Suisse Advisory Process.
- In its defined role as both Financial Market Participant and Financial Adviser, Credit Suisse will disclose the required information at both the entity level (our practices) and the product level (our financial products) to be compliant with the relevant rules of the SFDR.
Relevance for Credit Suisse clients
With the introduction of the requirement to enquire about a client’s sustainability preferences (MiFID II), Credit Suisse will ask its advisory services' clients to provide information on their preference to invest in sustainable investments in the Advisory Process. The sustainability preference will play an important role in Credit Suisse's investment advice to meet a client’s sustainability goals. At regular intervals, Credit Suisse will provide client reports to all its clients, which will display sustainability information about the invested products.
Enhanced SFDR disclosures will be available in updated company-level disclosures (e.g. information on principal adverse impacts), product documentation (e.g. fund prospectuses), and regular reporting elements (e.g. annual fund reporting). Together, these documents aim to transparently inform clients about the approach taken by the Bank on certain sustainability aspects and on product specific sustainability features.