Banking licence (Bankbewilligung nach Art. 3 BankG) (Switzerland)

At a glance

What it lets you do

• Taking deposits from the public
• Lending
• Execution of payment transactions

• Taking deposits from the public. Accepting deposits or other repayable funds from the public, the activity reserved to credit institutions.
• Lending. Granting loans, including consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring and financing of commercial transactions.
• Execution of payment transactions. Executing direct debits, card payments and credit transfers, including standing orders, from a payment account.

Where it is valid

Buying a company that already holds it

Prior approval required. A qualifying participation is defined as directly or indirectly holding at least 10% of the capital or voting rights, or otherwise exerting a significant influence over the company (BankA Art. 3 para. 2 let. c; FinIA Art. 11 para. 1). Notification to FINMA is mandatory prior to acquiring, disposing of, or reaching, exceeding, or falling below the statutory thresholds of 10%, 20%, 33%, or 50% (BankA Art. 3 para. 5; BankO Art. 8a; FinIA Art. 11 para. 4). For FinTech licence holders (Art. 1b BankA), FINMA's FinTech Licensing Guidelines explicitly mandate prior formal approval before completing any change in qualified participations. Furthermore, when foreign control is established or modified in a Swiss bank or securities firm, a supplementary licence (Zusatzbewilligung) is mandatory under BankA Art. 3bis. For SRO-affiliated financial intermediaries, Art. 6 para. 2 of SRO regulations (e.g. VQF) mandates prior written notice and SRO approval before transferring qualified holdings.⁵

Laws behind it

• Federal Act of 8 November 1934 on Banks and Savings Banks (Banking Act, BankA): SR 952.0