As already reported by the Market News of Ethics and Compliance Switzerland, the Swiss parliament (the Council of States) plans a revision of the Swiss anti-money laundering legislation. According to reports of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (hereinafter “NZZ”), the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act shall be amended in order to restrict reporting obligations of suspected cases of money laundering to MROS. According to these plans, reports shall only be mandatory i) if there are concrete indications or several concrete indications of predicate offences, and ii) if “this is credibly demonstrated or confirmed by additional investigations” (cf. our publication dated 25 September 2020 for more details)

In a recently published interview with the NZZ, FINMA CEO Mark Branson assumes that this legislative proposal is an “accident in the wording” and that “the successes of recent years should not be undone”. He also refers to FINMA’s sanctioning practice and to the professional bans imposed by FINMA in recent years.

More information: https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/banken-und-geldwaescherei-interview-mit-finma-chef-branson-ld.1579758