Recognized Ombudsman and Register of Advisers According to FinSA
Business Law Articles
By Romaine Robbiani & Joana M. Meier-Pinheiro
Suter Howald Rechtsanwälte
Switzerland
The following institutes were recognized as ombudsmen according to Art. 84 Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA) by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance (FDF) on 24 June 2020: Swiss Banking Ombudsman, Ombudsstelle Finanzdienstleister (OFD), Finanzombuds-stelle Schweiz (FINOS), and Ombud Finance Switzerland (OFS). Whilst only members of the Swiss Bankers Association are eligible for affiliation with the Swiss Banking Ombudsman, all financial service providers according to FinSA are eligible for affiliation with the other institutes. Moreover, the FDF is still reviewing further applications for recognition as ombudsman.
The six-month transitional period according to Art. 95 para 3 FinSA in conjunction with Art. 108Financial Services Ordinance (FinSO) began with the recognition of the above-mentioned insti-tutes by the FDF. Therefore, the financial service providers according to FinSA must affiliate to an ombudsman until 23 December 2020 at the latest.
Furthermore, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA granted to the BX Swiss AG the authorization to act as registration body for client advisers according to Art. 31 FinSA with effect from 20 July 2020. The FINMA expects that further registration bodies will be authorized.
The six-month transitional period according to Art. 95 para 2 FinSA in conjunction with Art. 107FinSO will start on 20 July 2020. Therefore, the client advisers that need to be formally noted in a register of advisers must submit their applications for entry in such a register by 19 Janu-ary 2021 at the latest.