Supervision of Asset Management and Collective Investment Schemes

The prudential supervisory system, with audit firms acting as FINMA’s extended arm, requires fund management companies (both for themselves and for the funds they manage), SICAVs, SICAFs, limited partnerships for collective investments, asset managers of collective investment schemes, and representatives of foreign collective investment schemes to designate an audit firm recognised by FINMA (Art. 126 CISA). Distributors are not obliged to comply with this requirement, while custodian banks have already engaged a recognised audit firm because of their banking status. The audit firms examine whether the licence holders are complying with the legislative, statutory and regulatory requirements and set out their findings in a report that is delivered to both the licence holders and the supervisory authority (Art. 128 CISA).