Federal Act of 8 November 1934 on Banks and Savings Banks (Banking Act, BankA)

At a glance

Full text

Official full text: Federal Act of 8 November 1934 on Banks and Savings Banks (Banking Act, BankA) (PDF, de)¹ · 567 KB · file checked 2026-09-24 · consolidated version of 2024-01-01

Official page: fedlex.admin.ch¹

Summary

The Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks (BankA, SR 952.0) provides the primary statutory foundation for banking regulation, deposit-taking, and prudential supervision in Switzerland. Enforced by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the Act applies to universal banks, cantonal banks, private bankers, savings institutions, Swiss branches and representative offices of foreign banks, and financial innovation entities. BankA establishes the statutory monopoly over commercial public deposit-taking and creates five distinct regulatory permissions: the full banking licence, the FinTech licence under Article 1b (allowing public deposits or crypto assets up to CHF 100 million without lending or interest), authorisations for foreign bank branches and representations, and supplementary authorisations for foreign-controlled banks. Key obligations require institutions to hold fully paid-up minimum capital, maintain adequate own funds and liquidity, establish robust governance separating executive management from board oversight, ensure fit-and-proper management, report qualified shareholding thresholds (10%, 20%, 33%, 50%), affiliate with the statutory depositor protection scheme (esisuisse) securing deposits up to CHF 100,000, and uphold Swiss banking secrecy under Article 47 subject to criminal penalties.

Summary written by the Atlas from the official text; the law itself prevails.

Main articles

• Art. 1: Applies the Act to banks, private bankers, and savings banks, prohibiting unauthorized commercial acceptance of public deposits by unregulated persons.
• Art. 1a: Defines banks as entities commercially accepting public deposits above CHF 100 million, accepting deposits or crypto assets to lend or pay interest, or refinancing to lend broadly.
• Art. 1b: Creates the FinTech licence allowing entities to accept public deposits or crypto assets up to CHF 100 million without investing them or paying interest.
• Art. 2: Applies statutory requirements to Swiss branches and representative offices of foreign banks, authorizing FINMA to require endowment capital and security deposits.
• Art. 3: Mandates prior FINMA authorisation, requiring fully paid-up minimum capital, separate supervisory and executive bodies, fit-and-proper managers, and notification of 10%, 20%, 33%, and 50% qualifying holdings.
• Art. 3bis & 3ter: Subjects foreign-controlled banks to supplementary FINMA authorization, conditioning approval on reciprocal treatment and requiring new approval upon any change in qualified foreign shareholders.
• Art. 3c & 3d: Defines financial groups and conglomerates, empowering FINMA to exercise consolidated supervision where an entity is managed from Switzerland or operates a Swiss bank.
• Art. 4: Requires banks to hold adequate capital and liquidity on an individual and a consolidated basis.
• Art. 4bis: Requires large loans to a single client or participations in a single enterprise to maintain an appropriate, risk-adjusted ratio relative to total regulatory own funds.
• Art. 7 & 8: Defines systemically important banks whose failure would harm the Swiss economy, designating critical functions including domestic deposit-taking, lending, and payment infrastructure.
• Art. 23bis: Mandates that external providers of outsourced essential banking functions comply with regulatory reporting obligations and submit to FINMA audits at any time.
• Art. 25 & 26: Authorizes FINMA to order protective measures, including appointing an investigating agent, removing management, restricting activities, or ordering payment moratoria when insolvency or liquidity crises threaten.
• Art. 28: Empowers FINMA to initiate bank restructuring proceedings and appoint a restructuring commissioner if there is reasonable prospect of rehabilitation or continuing essential services.
• Art. 37a: Grants privileged status to named bank deposits and medium-term notes up to CHF 100,000 in bankruptcy, requiring banks to cover 125% of privileged deposits with Swiss assets.
• Art. 37b: Mandates immediate payout of privileged deposits up to CHF 100,000 from available liquid assets outside ordinary bankruptcy liquidation procedures.
• Art. 37h: Deposit protection through esisuisse: the banks' joint funding obligation equals 1.6% of all protected deposits (about CHF 8 billion in 2026).
• Art. 46: Imposes criminal penalties of up to three years' imprisonment or fines for wilfully accepting public deposits without authorization or violating accounting requirements.
• Art. 47: Imposes criminal liability of up to three years' imprisonment, or five years for pecuniary gain, for intentional breach of professional banking secrecy.
• Art. 49: Imposes fines up to CHF 500,000 for unauthorised use of protected terms like 'bank' or 'savings', soliciting deposits without authorisation, or failing to make regulatory notifications.

Licences it governs

• Bank · Switzerland

  FinTech licence (Persons

  FinTech licence (Persons pursuant to Article 1b Banking Act

  FINMA

• Bank · Switzerland

  Banking licence

  FINMA

Regulators that apply it

• Switzerland

  Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)

  FINMA is Switzerland's independent financial markets authority, established under the Financial Market Supervision Act (FINMASA) to protect