The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is only partially extending exemptions in the procedure for opening new business relationships.
The current developments permit a return to the previous opening procedure for new business relationships in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Exemptions are no longer required for clients domiciled in Switzerland. For clients domiciled abroad the situation varies depending on the domicile or individual situation, so that FINMA will continue to grant certain exemptions for new client relationships in particular cases. FINMA specifies this in more detail in its new Guidance 07/2020 published in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
FINMA had previously granted exemptions for the opening of new client relationships in its Guidance 03/2020 of 7 April 2020. Some of these exemptions were extended in Guidance 06/2020 of 19 May 2020.
