Financial Services & Regulatory
The MLL Legal regulatory team is helping clients to navigate the fast evolving regulatory environment, continuously increasing in complexity and in sequence of adaptation of new rules, at Swiss, EU and wider global levels. We advise clients both with regard to compliance with existing as well as upcoming regulatory requirements, acting for all types of market participants in the wider financial markets, active in banking, markets infrastructure, commodities, asset and wealth management, insurance or the various areas of FinTech.
Areas of expertise
- Authorization for regulated entities (incl. bank licenses, securities dealers, insurance companies, asset managers, exchanges, trading venues, etc.)
- Authorizations of representative offices and branches of foreign regulated entities
- Governance and organizational requirements, regulatory, notification and disclosure obligations of licensed institutions
- Advice Swiss and foreign financial institutions on requirements relating to conduct rules, suitability, client categorization, cost transparency, incl. inducements, target markets, pre- and post-trade reporting
- Cross-border provisions of financial services in or from Switzerland / Contractual documentation relating to financial services
- Investigation / enforcement procedures banks and other financial intermediaries before regulatory authorities / representation in civil and criminal proceedings
- Reorganization of financial intermediaries
Other relevant areas
Asset Management | Investment Funds | Debt & Equity Capital Markets | Structured Finance & Lending | Trade & Commodity Finance | Aviation & Ship Finance | Islamic Finance | Derivatives, Structured Products | General Legal Documentation & Transaction Support | Regulatory & Compliance Support | FinTech | Private Banking | Payment Services
“The representative of MLL always answers absolutely correct and in time. His guidelines were very helpful for us to make the new set up of the company. They are really experts in their matter” - IFLR 1000, 2021-22
Publications
Client segmentation under FinSA
International Law Office, November 2019- EN
- Alexander Vogel
- Reto Luthiger
- Fabienne Walter
Classification of stablecoins under Swiss law: FINMA publishes amended guidelines
International Law Office, October 2019- EN
FDF proposes key changes to FinSO and FinlO
International Law Office, September 2019- EN
Blockchain – Aspetti legali e punti d’intervento del legislatore
Speaker at L'Associazione Internazionale Giuristi di Lingua Italiana (AIGLI), XXXII Convegno in Monopoli (BR), Italy, 26-29 September 2019- IT
Firm News
Partner & Counsel Promotions 2023: Congratulations to Reto Luthiger, Catherine Kavadze and Kevin Hubacher
Partner- & Counsel-Beförderungen 2023: Wir gratulieren Reto Luthiger, Catherine Kavadze and Kevin Hubacher
MLL-Auszeichnung für den besten Abschluss im CAS Spezialisierungskurs «Internationales Banken,- Kapitalmarkt- und Versicherungsrecht» (LL.M.-Studiengang Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht)
Chambers Europe 2022: MLL Top Ranked
GBBC Blockchain Central Davos. Leading the Digital Asset Revolution: Swiss Spotlight
News Portal
In Spotlight: What Are Additional Tier 1 (AT1) Bonds and How Do They Function?
In the course of the forced emergency merger between UBS and Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion in UBS shares, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) ordered the write off of CS’s Additional Tier 1 bonds in the total amount of CHF 16 billion.
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Swiss Marketing Rules for Foreign Fund Managers: Be Reminded of the 31 December 2021 Deadline
This note is part of a series of briefings on the Financial Services Act (FINSA, FIDLEG in German and LSFin in French) that came into force in 2020 and is a reminder for fund managers and other entities advertising, offering or marketing foreign funds on a cross-border basis to Swiss qualified investors that all FINSA requirements will need to be satisfied by 31 December 2021.
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COVID-19 Credits: Revised Guidelines of the Swiss Bankers’ Association on the Internal Handling of COVID-19 Credits
As an immediate response to liquidity shortages caused by the pandemic, the Federal Council had adopted on 25 March 2020 an emergency ordinance allowing SMEs to apply for and obtain so-called COVID-19 credits in a speedy, non-bureaucratic procedure until 31 July 2020. Given its extraordinary nature, the ordinance stayed in force until 25 September 2020. In order to address all aspects of the COVID-19 credits over their entire lifespan/term, there was a need to legislate and incorporate the main procedural provisions of the former emergency ordinance into a formal federal act: the Federal Act on COVID-19 Credits with Joint and Several Guarantee (the “COVID-19 Credit Act”) entered into force on 19 December 2020.
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United Kingdom to Grant Switzerland Stock Market Equivalence
With the Brexit transition period having ended on 31 December 2020, the United Kingdom’s powers to grant equivalence to foreign stock markets came into force. As a result, the United Kingdom has approved a regulation which recognises Switzerland’s legal and supervisory framework for stock exchanges as equivalent. The regulation will come into effect on 3 February 2021.
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What to Know About COVID-19 Credits and Their Use in the Light of the New Federal Act on COVID-19 Credits With Joint and Several Guarantee
As an immediate response to liquidity shortages caused by the pandemic, the Federal Council had adopted on 25 March 2020 an emergency ordinance allowing SMEs to apply for and obtain so-called COVID-19 credits in a speedy, non-bureaucratic procedure until 31 July 2020. Given its extraordinary nature, the ordinance stayed in force until 25 September 2020. In order to address all aspects of the COVID-19 credits over their entire lifespan, there was a need to legislate and incorporate the main procedural provisions of the former emergency ordinance into a formal federal act.
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