Author Archives: Edi Bollinger
Liberalization of the Point of Sale– Amendments to the FIDLEG Bill’s Point of Sale Duties Proposed by the Council of States
After having been discussed throughout 2016 in various sessions of the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee of the Swiss Federal Council of States (WAK-S), on 14 December 2016 the new Federal Financial Services Act (Finanzdienstleistungsgesetz; FIDLEG) was finally resolved on by the Federal Council of States (SR). Compared to the bill of the Federal Council (the Swiss government), the SR resolved on a number of amendments that will, in certain areas, substantially liberalize the proposed regulatory regime to be complied with at the point of sale. Starting this year, the bill is now before the other chamber of Swiss parliament, the Swiss National Council (NR), and it will be interesting to see to what degree the NR will follow the SR’s approach. The enactment of the bill is still anticipated at the earliest in 2018. The present article focuses on important amendments to the FIDLEG bill as suggested by the SR.
By Sandro Abegglen / Luca Bianchi / Edi Bollinger (Reference: CapLaw-2017-03)
A (Legal) Perspective on Blockchain
Before the background of the growing importance of financial technologies (FinTech), blockchain technology is gaining more and more of the public spotlight. Given that the existing legal framework has been designed for the traditional financial services industry rather than for technology-based business models, both regulators and legislators are facing the challenge of potentially adapting the existing regulation to the new needs of blockchain providers. In this context, a number of related regulatory and legal issues may arise; they are summarized in a nutshell in the present article.
By Luca Bianchi / Edi Bollinger (Reference: CapLaw-2016-47)