Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority completes over 94% of FinIA transitional licensing applications for portfolio managers and trustees

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) published an update on the licensing regime for commercially active portfolio managers and trustees under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA), reporting that it has now processed the vast majority of applications filed during the three-year transitional period. By the end of February 2025, FINMA had completed more than 94% of the 1,699 applications submitted by the end of 2022. Application volumes were concentrated late in the transition, with more than half submitted in the final four months, and later submissions were often of poorer quality, contributing to delays. In over 40% of cases, FINMA requested amendments at least five times. Of the 94 transitional-period applications still pending, around half are subject to investigations, including links to criminal proceedings involving corporate body members or the institutions. As at 28 February 2025, FINMA had approved 1,532 of 1,864 applications submitted since the regime began, including 1,428 approvals from the 1,699 pre-end-2022 applicants and 104 approvals from 165 applications submitted from the start of 2023; 131 applications were withdrawn. Institutions with pending dossiers may continue operating until FINMA’s final decision. FINMA also reported a high volume of post-licensing approvals, receiving 3,221 change requests and expecting around 1,700 per year going forward. Supervision is conducted through a two-tier model in which supervisory organisations perform ongoing oversight and escalate unresolved irregularities to FINMA; escalations and the number of institutions under FINMA’s intensive supervision rose significantly in the second half of 2024.