D-31-02

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) welcomes Switzerland's progress in implementing the Too Big To Fail (TBTF) rules, but stresses that there is still work to be done. Its second peer review report of 29 February 2024 covers the period 2022-2023 and targets systemically important banks (SIBs) operating internationally. The FSB's ten recommendations can be summarised as follows: Increase FINMA's resources quantitatively and qualitatively: in addition to increasing the size of its teams, the FSB recommends a strengthening of expertise to[...]

On January 31, 2024, the Federal Council published the long-awaited preliminary draft of the revision of administrative criminal law. The consultation procedure will run until May 10, 2024. For the record, administrative criminal law is criminal law, with the distinctive feature that the prosecution and adjudication of offences fall within the remit of a federal administrative authority, which varies according to the field concerned (e.g. the Federal Department of Finance for administrative criminal law offences against financial market laws) (cf.[...]

In recent years, staking services have proliferated, and with them the legal issues surrounding them. In order to clarify its practice, particularly with regard to the safekeeping of cryptoactives, FINMA has published Supervisory Notice 08/2023 on staking. FINMA defines staking as the process of blocking cryptoassets at the staking address of a validation node in order to participate in the validation process of a blockchain based on the proof-of-stake mechanism. In return, participants receive rewards. The communication clarifies the interpretation[...]

On December 19, 2023, FINMA published its report on Credit Suisse. This report discusses the background to the collapse (I.), and draws some "lessons learned" (II.). I. In 1856, Alfred Escher helped set up a company that excelled in commercial lending. The Schweizerische Kreditanstalt borrowed from Paul or Virginie at a lower rate than that at which it lent to "Rail" or "Wagon SA", and grew rich on the interest differential. One thing led to another, and the bank moved[...]