Securities firm licence (Wertpapierhaus-Bewilligung nach Art. 41 FINIG) (Switzerland)

At a glance

What it lets you do

• Reception and transmission of orders
• Execution of orders on behalf of clients
• Dealing on own account
• Portfolio management
• Investment advice

• Reception and transmission of orders. Receiving client orders in financial instruments and passing them to another firm for execution.
• Execution of orders on behalf of clients. Concluding agreements to buy or sell financial instruments on behalf of clients.
• Dealing on own account. Trading financial instruments against proprietary capital, which includes acting as counterparty to client trades.
• Portfolio management. Managing client portfolios that include financial instruments on a discretionary, client-by-client basis.
• Investment advice. Giving personal recommendations to a client about one or more transactions in financial instruments.

Where it is valid

Cost

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.⁷