Switzerland: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Securities Market-Selected Issues in Regulation and Supervision

Switzerland has a large securities market and one of the world’s largest asset and wealth management industries, where banks play a dominant role. Swiss asset managers manage CHF 7.87 trillion in assets, among others CHF 1.3 trillion in collective assets and CHF 1.9 trillion in discretionary mandates.1 Banks, directly and at a group level, manage most of these assets and generate a substantial part of their revenues from asset and wealth management activities. The secondary market in Switzerland leads the market share of trading in Swiss equities globally, including in three of the top ten shares in Europe by market capitalization. Securities trading is concentrated in one trading venue, under the SIX group, which manages practically the entire financial markets infrastructure in the country. Banks are dominant shareholders of the trading venue/ group and the leading broker-dealers.