Encouraging Excellence

According to the 2023 Banking Barometer from Swissbanking, 5.2% of all jobs in Switzerland depend on the financial sector. In the case of Geneva, this percentage rises to 10%, making finance a major contributor to the Canton’s economic prosperity. With regard to the distribution of posts by gender in the banking sector, the proportion of women remained stable at 38.3%.
 

The banking sector is moreover the first industry in Switzerland to offer a customized audit procedure and a quality label for external audit of the pay equity analyses that are required by law. In fact, a centre for pay equity was established in 2020 by the Swiss Bank Employees Association, the Swiss Association of Commercial Employees and the Employers' Association of the Banks in Switzerland because this is a priority issue and a common concern.
 

For the record, the Equality Act, revised in July 2020, requires enterprises with more than 100 employees not only to perform a pay equity analysis, but also to arrange for an external agency to verify the results obtained. The social partners’ “Specialist Centre on Equal Pay in the Banking Sector” enabled 45 banking institutions representing over 30,000 employees to be audited. The results published by Employers in Banking are encouraging since all the banks adhere to equal pay according to the 5% tolerance permitted by law. Overall, the average “unexplained” pay gap is 4.2%. This is essentially justified by the fact that women have more career breaks than men. Special attention will therefore be paid to a work-life balance.

Employees in the banking sector are highly employable. In other words they are able to find a new job, make their own way in the labour market, hold down a position and progress in their careers. In fact, employability largely depends on continuing lifelong education.

According to the Barometer of opportunities and concerns conducted by Employeurs Banques, the bank employers’ association, the main concerns of employees in 2021 were the increased specialisation of the banking professions, the complexity of regulation and the employability of older staff. In relation to the age profile, those in the 55 to 64 age group rose from 10% in 2009 to 15% of the total in 2020. One specialisation that is in demand in the financial sector is sustainable finance, as this subject pathway has now become an integral part of investment strategies.

In order promote learning and knowledge transfer within the Swiss financial sector, the Swiss Bankers Association launched the "Swiss Banking Academy" in January 2023, which proposes a wide range of webinars and specialised seminars on fundamentals and hot topics in banking. The content is based on sharing experiences and is strongly geared to being useful in practice. The Swiss Banking Academy is available to all staff of banks in Switzerland and the Swiss financial centre in general.
 

Geneva is also at the forefront of in-service compliance training, reflecting the shared commitment of the financial and academic sectors. Implemented 20 years ago, the CAS in Compliance awarded by the Centre for Banking and Financial Law at the University of Geneva has become the Swiss standard. It is taught not only in Geneva but also in partnership in Zurich via the University of St Gallen and in Lugano at the Villa Negroni Study Center.

The University of Geneva can therefore be proud that a “Genferei” (a Geneva success story) is being successfully exported today beyond the “Röstigraben” (the dividing line between French and German-speaking Switzerland). This success originates in the promulgation in 1997 and entry into force in the following year of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA). This law requires not only the client but also the beneficial owner to be identified whenever an account or a management mandate is opened. In order to meet the challenges of this new legislation, the Geneva Financial Center approached the Centre for Banking and Financial Law with a request to develop a training course that was to be as practical as possible. In response, the University of Geneva designed a CAS Compliance in 2003, which very soon became a great success.

This precursor course has been able to adapt to changing regulations. The CAS Compliance initially focused on money laundering, but gradually included the numerous regulatory developments, i.e. mutual assistance in tax matters as well as the prevention of the financing of terrorism and the imposition of international sanctions. This training course therefore also aims to meet the future challenges which Geneva financial operators will have to face. Foremost among them must surely be the new reform of the anti-money laundering arsenal. In order to take account of international developments and the latest assessments of the Swiss measures conducted by the FATF, Swiss money laundering legislation undergoes regular reviews. In May 2024, the Federal Council published its Dispatch on the draft text of a Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and Identification of the Beneficial Owners, more commonly referred to as the Transparency Act .

In the age of sustainability, compliance in banking is acquiring unprecedented importance. In Switzerland, the Federal Council published a position statement on the prevention of greenwashing in the financial sector on 16 December 2022. At the same time, FINMA initiated a consultation procedure on a new Circular entitled “Nature-related financial risks”. These two examples and numerous international initiatives provide a clear illustration of the profusion of new laws and regulations in the area of sustainability. All these texts will certainly have consequences for compliance, such as the examination of marketing materials and statements made on the subject of sustainability as well as the assessment of the quality of the products on offer that have ESG features. The CAS Compliance will undoubtedly rise to the challenge in assisting practitioners.