SIX Welcomes Swiss Federal Council Ordinance for Foreign Trading Venues

The Swiss Federal Council has adopted an ordinance that will introduce a new "recognition regime" for foreign trading venues which trade Swiss shares. The ordinance was adopted due to the fact that the EU Commission has not yet decided whether or not to extend the equivalence recognition of Swiss legal and supervisory framework for trading venues with that of the EU. SIX welcomes the contingency measure of the Swiss Federal Council, a measure to protect the functioning of the Swiss stock exchange infrastructure, as it ensures that EU market participants continue to have access to the Swiss domestic market and are able to trade Swiss equities there. Based on the new “recognition regime”, FINMA will only grant recognition if the jurisdiction, in which the foreign trading venue is located, permits investment firms in that jurisdiction to trade in Swiss shares in Switzerland without restriction. If this condition is not met, a foreign trading venue will not be granted recognition by FINMA; consequently, these venues will not be allowed to offer trading in Swiss shares, effective from January 1, 2019.