Swiss National Bank (SNB) Swiss banking sector

Banks operating in Switzerland are subject to the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks (Banking Act) (German: www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c952_0.html; French: www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/c952_0.html).

Detailed regulations – e.g. on capital, liquidity and risk diversification – are contained in the Ordinance on Banks and Savings Banks (Banking Ordinance) (German: www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c952_02.html; French: www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/c952_02.html). The banking legislation also takes account of international agreements and recommendations, e.g. the Basel Capital Adequacy Accord. The statutory provisions are supplemented by codes of conduct and recommendations that the banks impose on themselves as a self-regulatory measure (www.swissbanking.org/home/allgemein.htm).

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) (www.finma.ch) grants banking licenses and is responsible for supervising banks.

In Switzerland, several regulatory reforms to strengthen the stability of the financial system have been initiated or have already been carried out.

In May 2010, the Swiss National Bank and FINMA revised the liquidity requirements for the two big banks.


Press release of 21 April 2010: New liquidity regime for Swiss big banks	PDF [149 kB]

The Federal Council appointed a commission of experts to make proposals on how to solve the ‘too big to fail’ issue. The SNB is represented in this commission, which in May 2010 published an interim report (http://www.sif.admin.ch). The final report is scheduled for the end of September 2010.