Author Archives: Olivier Favre

Position Paper regarding selected Aspects of the Financial Services Act (FinSA)

With the entry into force of the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA) as of 1 January 2020, new regulatory duties and requirements for Swiss and foreign financial service providers which are active in Switzerland or serve Swiss clients proactively on a cross-border basis were introduced. However, the practical application of the new law revealed that various newly introduced legal terms and concepts of the FinSA require more specific explanation and some statements made in the course of the implementation process require clarification.

The authors of this position paper are practicing lawyers working with various Zurich based law firms who regularly exchange views on new legal developments and share their experience in the application and implementation of the law. The views and positions expressed in this position paper are those of the individual contributing authors and not those of the respective law firms or other market participants.

(Reference: CapLaw-2021-30)

LIBOR Transition for Derivatives – State of Play

On the basis of statements made by regulators so far, the market expects that panel banks will no longer be compelled to make submissions for the determination of the London Interbank Offered Rates (LIBOR) as of the end of 2021 and that LIBOR will cease to be published in its current form as a result. This gives rise to the questions what alternative interest rate benchmarks may be used instead of LIBOR rates in the derivatives market and how to proceed with regard to transactions referencing LIBOR rates that have a maturity beyond the end of LIBOR.

By Olivier Favre (Reference: CapLaw-2020-25)