B-16-02 FINMA Circ. 16/2

In its press release of 21 March 2025, the Federal Council reported on the results of the consultation procedure on the partial revision of the regulations on non-financial reporting and due diligence obligations for companies, which ended in October 2024. The Federal Council reaffirms its commitment to bringing Swiss law into line with international standards. However, in view of recent legislative developments in the EU, Swiss companies will have to wait before they know what will happen to the draft[...]

Was FINMA, and subsequently the Federal Administrative Court, right to refuse dividend payments by an insurance company in connection with the approval of a liquidation plan and a modified business plan on the grounds that the company had failed to comply with its obligation to cooperate with the supervisory authority? This is the question that the Federal Supreme Court had to answer in a ruling handed down on 18 February (2C_94/2024). The case in question concerns an insurance company that[...]

The Federal Administrative Court (FAT) has confirmed that comparis.ch AG (Comparis) qualifies as an insurance intermediary within the meaning of Art. 40 para. 1 ISA on the basis of the services it offers and must therefore be entered in FINMA's public register of unrelated intermediaries (ruling B-5886/2023 of 5 July 2024). In September 2023, FINMA decided that Comparis was an insurance intermediary within the meaning of Art. 40 ISA and ordered it to be entered in the register of non-related[...]

This year, the general meetings of public-interest companies meeting the criteria of Art. 964a para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations will be asked to approve their reports on non-financial matters in accordance with Art. 964c para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations. In this context, a controversy has arisen over the legal nature of the vote: on the one hand, Novartis and Roche have already organised a consultative vote, while on the other, the Ethos Foundation is[...]