According to art. 31 FinSA, the registers of advisors to which client advisors of certain domestic and foreign financial service providers must sign up are maintained and managed by registration bodies. These registration bodies require FINMA approval. To become approved, the registration bodies must demonstrate their independence and good standing and must guarantee irreproachable business conduct.
FINMA has not yet authorised any registration bodies. According to a press release of February 7, 2020, BX Swiss Ltd. has applied for admission and expects approval by April 2020. Thereafter, client advisors can sign up to the register of adviser via www.regservices.ch.
Client advisors will be required to provide certain personal details and prove sufficient professional indemnity insurance (or equivalent) as well as the necessary expertise (incl. knowledge of the FinSA rules of conduct). Furthermore, they must file an extract from the criminal record and an employer’s confirmation.
In addition, client advisors must indicate the ombudsman office with which they or the financial service providers by which they are mandated are affiliated (cf. art. 74 et seq. FinSA). No ombudsman office has yet commenced to operate. However, according to the press release by BX Swiss AG, this is expected to happen in the upcoming weeks.
Once the registration body(ies) has (have) been approved, client advisors subject to registration shall apply for registration within six months. If the required expertise cannot yet be proven, the missing requirement is to be noted in the registration and the appropriate proof can be provided subsequently until December 31, 2021 (cf. Art. 104 FinSO).