Swiss Banking Group Criticises EU Cross-Border Regulation On Marketing

Tom Burroughes

17 January 2014

Switzerland, home to around SFr5.56 trillion ($6.138 trillion) of banking assets – of which about half is managed for foreigners – is threatened by European Union regulatory action on cross-border wealth management, an industry association has said, according to media reports.

The Association of Swiss Private Banks has criticised a move by the EU to stop Swiss banks from marketing services directly to EU citizens from Switzerland. The move will hit Swiss jobs, Nicolas Pictet, vice-president of the association, told journalists yesterday, according to Bloomberg.

"Access to markets from Switzerland is vitally important," Pictet, part of the Pictet banking family dynasty, is quoted as saying. "It’s not the interest of which company or bank group that’s the question. It’s well and truly about the interest of the country."

The association has called on the Swiss government to negotiate an agreement with the EU that maintains the free movement of financial services between Switzerland and EU states so banks do not have to establish subsidiaries and deploy thousands of employees abroad. The banks are ready in return to take part in a system of automatic exchange of tax information, the body said.

The restrictions, brought in under the EU’s updated MiFID directive on financial services, have already been criticised by bodies such as the Swiss Bankers Association. When WealthBriefing interviewed the S wiss ambassador to the UK last year, it was a subject that drew criticism.

The move is in addition to pressure being exerted by EU countries and other nations on Switzerland over that country’s historic bank secrecy laws.

Banking and financial services account for around 11-12 per cent of Swiss GDP.