Categorisation of banks and securities dealers

FINMA’s risk-oriented supervision consists of six supervisory categories, with market participants in category 6 not subject to prudential supervision. All banks and securities dealers are assigned to categories 1 to 5 on the basis of measurable criteria, namely total assets, assets under management, privileged deposits and required capital.

The main features of each supervisory category are as follows:

• Category 1: extremely large, important and complex market participants. Very high risk.
• Category 2: very important, complex market participants. High risk.
• Category 3: large and complex market participants. Significant risk.
• Category 4: medium-sized market participants. Medium risk.
• Category 5: small market participants. Low risk.

Supervisory intensity

Institutions in different categories are supervised with different levels of intensity.



Those in categories 1 and 2 require greater attention in view of their importance and risk profile and are thus subject to continual and intensive or close supervision. Those in category 5, on the other hand, are supervised on the basis of quantitative indicators and only looked at more closely when they break the rules or when other extraordinary events occur.

Distribution of supervised institutions

The vast majority of supervised banks and securities dealers are assigned to category 5. Category 6 does not contain any institutions in this sector.