Authorisation

The authorisation procedure is one of the most important preventative control instruments in financial market supervision. Dubious business practices, opaque ownership structures and doubtful members of corporate bodies must be consistently refused the quality seal of supervision. Supervisory legislation provides for different authorised parties subject to varying licensing conditions based on their specific purpose. General authorisation rules are primarily of an organisational, financial and HR-related nature. Every licensing procedure begins with a clarification of the relevant requirement. The majority of the work thus relates to the granting of new authorisations. Existing authorised parties must also obtain prior approval from FINMA if their conditions change, for example due to structural or capital reorganisations, amendments to articles of association or significant changes in ownership. The section also handles notifications of qualified participations in banks and securities dealers, notifications on international activities (openings and closures of subsidiaries, branches and representative offices) and applications for voluntary cessation of an activity subject to authorisation.