Introduction
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008/2009,
Switzerland launched a massive overhaul of its financial
regulations. These reforms followed several objectives. First,
banking regulations were revised to ensure the stability of the
financial system, in line with the recommendations of the Financial
Stability Board (“FSB”) and other
international standard-setters. Second, Switzerland reacted to EU
law in order to ensure equivalence and to be able to continue to
access the European market as a third party state. Therefore, the
reforms also aimed to align Swiss law with EU regulations Directive
2014/65/EU on Markets in Financial Instruments II
(“MiFID II”) and Regulation (EU) No
600/2014 on Markets in Financial Instruments
(“MiFIR”) to ensure Swiss financial
institutions' access to the European financial markets.
Finally, the reforms were geared to revising Swiss regulations from
a patchwork of sectorial rules to a consistent regulatory
framework.
