Accounting Rules
For issuers whose securities are listed in the main trading segment of SWX, IAS1 and US GAAP2 will be deemed to be the sole recognised accounting standards as of the 2005 financial year. The exceptional provisions applicable to banks (Art. 68 of the Listing Rules) as well as foreign-domiciled companies (Art. 70 para. 2 LR) shall remain in force.
Corporate Governance
The surveillance and enforcement issues relevant to corporate governance have been dealt with in the Directive on Information Relating to Corporate Governance that entered into force on 1 July 2002.
As it pertains to the annual reports issued for the current 2002 financial year, the Admission Board will examine the related filings within the framework of the corporate governance rules, namely in effort to verify the completeness of the information provided. The pre-existing enforcement procedures and mechanisms will be applied in this regard.
The Admission Board has decided to commission Zurich University's Institute for Accounting and Controlling, under the direction of Prof. Conrad Meyer, to conduct a study aimed at investigating compliance with the corporate governance rules. This study will involve the analysis of annual reports submitted for 2002, and its findings will be presented to the public most likely in the second half of 2003.
During the course of the upcoming year, the Admission Board - based on the experience it gains in the initial application of the relevant rules as well as the results of the aforementioned study - will evaluate the enforcement concept.
Resignations from the Admission Board
On the occasion of this Admission Board meeting, the resignations of Federal Councilman Gerold Bührer and Pierre Fischer of the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise were accepted and gratitude expressed for their service on behalf of the Admission Board. Their successors will be nominated in the coming weeks.
