Council of States does not want any new instruments for Finma for the time being
Published: Thursday, Dec 14th 2023, 13:30
Updated At: Thursday, Dec 14th 2023, 13:31
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For the time being, the Council of States is not demanding any new powers for the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) - particularly with regard to systemically important banks. It rejected a motion to this effect on Thursday. A majority did not want to anticipate ongoing work in connection with the CS crisis.
The small chamber rejected the proposal from its Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (WAK-S) by 26 votes to 14 with three abstentions. The motion is therefore off the table.
The Council of States committee called on the Federal Council to draft legislation on three internationally widespread supervisory and sanction instruments that have not yet been introduced in Switzerland. Among other things, FINMA should be able to fine legal entities and publish stress tests on the economic situation of financial institutions in future. It also concerned the precise allocation of responsibilities to certain bank managers.
The background to this is the Credit Suisse crisis, which led to the emergency takeover of the major bank by UBS in the spring. The Federal Council and a strong minority of the committee successfully requested that the motion be rejected. They first wanted to await the precise analysis of the CS crisis by the Department of Finance. The results are expected in spring 2024.
Martin Schmid (FDP/GR) said that he feared that the entire sector subject to Finma would end up being regulated. However, Switzerland has a problem with the big banks. He also contradicted the Commission majority's assessment that time would be gained by accepting the motion.
In its statement, the federal government stated that it shared the concern to strengthen FINMA. However, the Federal Council could not commit to specific measures at present.
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