In line with the Basel III regime, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is aligning disclosure provisions for banks with enhanced international standards. FINMA is therefore opening a public consultation, which runs until 31 August 2015, on its fully revised "Disclosure – banks” circular.
At the end of January 2015, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published revised requirements for banks as regards the disclosure of information about risks and equity capital (http://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d309.htm), which are now being introduced in Switzerland. FINMA is subsequently opening a public consultation on the draft version of FINMA circular 2016/xx "Disclosure – banks”. This circular will replace FINMA Circular 2008/22 in full and should come into force on 31 December 2016 in line with the international time frame. The consultation closes on 31 August 2015.
The revised disclosure requirements will improve the information and decision-making basis for market participants and enhance the comparability of institutions. Based on the information disclosed, analysts and investors can take an informed decision about an institution’s risk situation, equity capital and liquidity situation, and act accordingly.
The revised circular does not include small institutions (FINMA supervisory categories 4 and 5), which are relieved from making a detailed disclosure as required by the Basel standards. Such institutions must only disclose areas relevant for depositors, whereas systemically important, big and medium-sized institutions (FINMA supervisory categories 1 to 3) must fully comply with the disclosure requirements.
Contact
Tobias Lux, Media Spokesperson, Tel. +41 (0)31 327 91 71,
tobias.lux@finma.ch
