Licensing and authorisation requirements

The most important changes requiring a licence or authorisation from FINMA are as follows:

• Changes to articles of association and regulationsmust be authorised by FINMA before they enter into force.

• If a Swiss bank is to be transferred to foreign control, it needs an additional licence. The same applies to Swiss-controlled securities dealers and changes to qualified participations in foreign-controlled institutions.

• Banks and securities dealers that use individual risk models to calculate capital adequacy requirements must have these authorised by FINMA.

• Systemically important banks require FINMA’s authorisation to include certain capital instruments in their capital adequacy calculations.