an ICMA and SIX Swiss Exchange conference, hosted by SIX Swiss Exchange

Date and Venue

Date: 10 July 2012
Time: 15:30 - 19:00

Venue:
SIX Swiss Exchange
Selnaustrasse 30
Zurich
Switzerland


Event overview

On 10 July 2012, over 100 delegates gathered at the SWX’s ConventionPoint in Zürich for a conference to discuss the market perspective on regulatory developments.

In his introduction, Ueli Goldener, Head of Fixed Income Management at SIX Swiss Exchange emphasised that the SWX Group had many of the necessary solutions in place and would continue to work closely with clients as they navigated the changing and challenging landscape.

Daniel Zuberbühler, Senior Financial Consultant at KPMG Switzerland and former Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, gave a keynote address which can be found here. Mr. Zuberbühler highlighted the unfriendly market environment and the seriousness of the crisis; and commented on the EU banking union proposals and recent regulatory developments. He noted that a Euro-centric banking union would be of little direct use for Switzerland and suggested that its limited scope would also create tensions for harmonisation and coherence within the EU, because it could divide the European banking landscape into two zones with varying degrees of regulatory and supervisory integration. He highlighted the ambitious nature of EU regulatory proposals, noting that the last of the 29 texts translating the G20 commitments from London and Pittsburgh into European law, among them of course MiFID II, MiFIR and CDS-R, had been proposed in June. And he emphasised that the stated goal of these efforts remains unchanged: no financial player, no financial product and no financial market should escape effective supervision. Mr Zuberbühler described the close links between Switzerland and the EU and Eurozone economies as ‘like a beautiful yacht moored to the ‘Titanic’ and questioned whether the European Union project would collapse if it stood still, drawing on his passion for mountain biking to extend the metaphor. Further information is available on KPMG’s MiFID Competence Center.

In the first panel discussing the MiFID II proposals and the CSD-R, panellists noted the extensive impact on Swiss private banking and market infrastructures; and discussed whether reforms to the structure of the market would alleviate existing problems, referring particularly to the lack of liquidity in the secondary bond market. The panel also introduced the ‘third country’ issue and noted that FINMA’s vision paper of 24 February 2012 discussed the necessary changes to Swiss law and regulation.

The second panel discussed the Swiss response to these challenges, emphasising in particular the key role played by the industry and the diplomatic corps in drawing attention to the difficulties with the ‘third country’ proposals, which are significant. Panellists also discussed FINMA’s approach to aligning the Swiss regime with MIFID, covering the Swiss approach to client segmentation, which is different from the EU approach; the duties to provided information at the point of sale and carry out ‘suitability and appropriateness’ checks; and the need for a new licensing requirement on independent asset managers in Switzerland.

Other speakers included:
Dr Marcel Aellen, Attorney at Law, Senior Manager, Audit Financial Services. KPMG AG
Olivier Favre, Associate in Banking Finance Practice Group, Associate, Schellenberg Wittmer
Regula Berger, Vice President, Deputy Head Documentation Trading Products, GE I, IFDS, Zürcher Kantonalbank
Alex Merriman, Head of Market Policy, SIX Securities Services
Martin Scheck, Chief Executive, International Capital Market Association
Gerhard Schuler, Head of Fixed Income Trading Desk, UBS Wealth Management
John Serocold, Senior Director, International Capital Market Association
Heinrich Siegmann, Head of US Affairs, Swiss Banking Association
Dr Iris-Claude Turck, Director Regulatory and Business Risk Management, Credit Suisse AG
       
Please click here to view the agenda