Switzerland’s parliament has relaxed the anti-money laundering (AML) rules for ‘small’ FinTech companies.
In June this year, the country’s parliament launched a new licensing category, known as the FinTech licence, with the aim of promoting financial market innovation.
The new licensing category falls under the Banking Act, applying to institutions which accept public deposits of up to CHF 100m ($102m) but which do not invest or pay interest on them.
These institutions will be subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and its due diligence requirements. However, the parliament has now recognised the need to revise the FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (AMLO-FINMA).
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said: “As a rule, all financial institutions are subject to similar due diligence requirements relating to combating money laundering.
“However, as most FinTech licence applicants are likely to be smaller institutions, FINMA proposes to introduce some organisational relaxations for such institutions. These principles will now be set out in the Banking Ordinance.”
One relaxation will see small institutions, unlike banks, being exempt from the requirement to establish an independent anti-money laundering unit with monitoring duties. For the purposes of the draft ordinance, “small” institutions are those with gross revenues of less than CHF 1.5m ($1.53m). Consultation on AMLO-FINMA will last until 26 October 2018.
Earlie this year, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority announced plans to regulate some ICOs either under anti-money laundering laws or as securities. It is publishing guidelines, which complement its earlier FINMA Guidance 04/2017, setting out how it intends to treat enquiries from ICO organisers.
The regulator also recently teamed up with The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) to collaborate on FinTech. Following the announcement, the FSA said the Cooperation Framework recognises the global nature of innovation in financial services and intends to enhance the relationship with FINMA on FinTech.
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
