The new fintech license adopted by Switzerland in 2018 has gone live on 1 January 2019 (see our article “Swiss fintech License Goes Live” from December 2018). Companies accepting public deposits of up to CHF 100 million, but that do not invest or pay interest on such deposits, will be eligible to apply for the fintech license (instead of a full banking license). The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is responsible for granting fintech licences. Swiss National Bank, Switzerland’s central bank, has now announced that certain firms operating with a fintech license will be eligible for opening a sight deposit account with SNB, provided the applicant makes a “significant contribution to the fulfilment of the SNB’s statutory tasks” and its “admission does not pose any major risks”. This announcement is important because a sight deposit account with SNB is a precondition for getting access to the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system, Switzerland’s core payment system. Without such access the fintech license would have been with little or no use for fintechs providing payment services. Since SNB’s statutory mandate includes ensuring and facilitating the functioning of cashless payment systems this group of fintechs should in any case be eligible for a SNB sight deposit account. It is less clear how the second proviso is to be understood since it is difficult to envisage that a firm obtains a fintech license if its business model or the way it operates poses “major risks”. Another important issue which has been left open by the SNB announcement is whether fintechs will also be granted an exemption from negative interests to be paid on sight deposit balances, currently at -0.75 basis points.
If you are interested in learning more about the fintech license please do not hesitate and contact us in case you have any questions.
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