The transitional period for licensing portfolio managers and trustees comes to an end in December 2022. In its guidance, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA provides a first insight into the measures that have been taken against portfolio managers and trustees.
FINMA is today publishing new guidance to inform portfolio managers and trustees about the current status of the licensing process and provide an overview of the measures taken up to now.
FINMA recommended that all institutions submit their complete licence application to a supervisory organisation (SO) by 30 June 2022. Applicants that submitted their application on time to the SO are well prepared for the challenges of the licensing process.
Institutions that have not yet submitted their application to an SO must accept that they may miss the end of the transitional period through their own fault. As a consequence, these institutions will generally not be entitled to any deadline extension.
FINMA has already conducted various investigations and several charges have been filed on grounds of unauthorised activities. FINMA imposes sanctions for breaches of financial market law and will also do so in the case of portfolio managers and trustees who miss the end of the transitional period on 31 December 2022.
