The Swiss finance industry is going through interesting times. In addition to the changing economic environment and political views on how to govern financial market activities, the regulatory framework is about to be amended in a fundamental and comprehensive way. No longer will regulation have a mere sector-focused approach. Rather, henceforth, the financial markets legal architecture will have a focus on different levels of regulation with the aim of applying the same rules to similar products and services across the industry, but certain sector specific acts will remain effective.

The publication does not intend to be a comprehensive discussion of the new acts, but rather aims to provide an overview with a focus on what Swiss and foreign market participants need to be aware of in view of the currently discussed proposals and developments. The publication at hand is partly based on legislation that still is in draft form. The publication takes into account all respective drafts and proposals published until 1 May 2016. As these draft proposals yet have to be discussed in and passed by the Swiss Parliament, they might change significantly during the legislative process, so that developments will need to be monitored in the months to come.

The full publication is available for download at NKF's website.