Indefinite recognition of stock market equivalence

The Federal Council today announced that it will continue to advocate for the European Commission to indefinitely extend the stock market equivalence it granted to Switzerland for only one year in December 2017. It has adopted a contingency measure to protect the Swiss stock market infrastructure in the event that stock market equivalence is not extended by 1 December 2018, or that an extension has not been promised publicly. The SBA will analyse the possible implications of this contingency measure proposed by the Federal Council.

Free and efficient capital markets are of great international importance and therefore also for Switzerland as a financial centre and a business location. In the interests of open global capital markets and the possibility for all market participants to trade on the markets with the best liquidity and biggest order books, the SBA calls on the EU to indefinitely recognise the equivalence of its stock market regulation. The Swiss stock exchanges are technically equivalent, and this has already been confirmed by the EU authorities. A positive decision from the EU Commission regarding recognition of stock exchange equivalence at the political level would be welcomed by all market participants.