BSCC : The Funds Industry - Fast Forward in Switzerland

With the deadline just recently passed, foreign funds marketing in Switzerland need to comply with the latest regulations or risk committing a criminal offence.

Switzerland’s investment fund universe is worth some CHF 840 billion according to latest estimates from SFAMA (Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association), and is undergoing some major changes.

With so much coverage over recent years about the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) that entered into force in the European Union on 22 July 2013, many investors, distributors and fund managers have not yet woken up to the fact that the new Swiss rules are quite different and that the deadline to comply is imminent.  While the asset management industry is increasingly weary of the burden of more and more regulation, it may come  as a relief to hear that the new Swiss rules are pragmatic, relatively low in terms of costs and allow for a broad diversity of funds to be distributed in Switzerland going forward.

The British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce will host a panel discussion of experts able to explain and elucidate the various aspects and implications of this new and important law.