The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has granted SIX Exchange Regulation AG (“SER”) approval to act as a prospectus office pursuant to the Financial Services Act (FinSA), effective 1 June 2020. With the new provisions of the FinSA the regulations for prospectuses were standardized on 1 January 2020, thereby strengthening customer protection and boosting the competitiveness of the financial centre.
Any person in Switzerland who makes a public offer for the acquisition of securities or any person who seeks the admission of securities to trading on a trading venue must first publish a prospectus. The prospectus must be submitted to the SER Prospectus Office or another Swiss prospectus office prior to publication for approval and then filed with it.
SER will begin operating as Prospectus Office on 2 June 2020, and for this purpose, it is launching a web-based system for digital interaction that it has developed. Within the context of prospectus review and listing, SER will in future continue to be able to offer all services for the Swiss financial centre and for international clients efficiently under one roof.
SER will offer a fully digitalised process on its website that applicants can use to submit their prospectus for review, thus ensuring that the procedure is simple and efficient. This process will facilitate a speedy review of the prospectus. This innovative approach is part of SER’s effort to reinforce its already considerable proximity to the market and expand it further.
Until the end of the transitional period on 1 December 2020, applicants will still have the option of submitting applications to SER and having them approved in accordance with the regime that applied before the new provisions entered into force. Thereafter, the provisions of the FinSA are solely applicable.
Many years of experience combined with digital innovation
Sabir Sheikh, Deputy Head SER and member of the Management Committee, says on the approval by FINMA: “With the quick organisational development and the digitalised operation of SER’s prospectus office system, we are proud to be making a further contribution to increasing the appeal of the Swiss financial centre and, at the same time, also to be pressing forward still further with the internationalisation of our markets. SER already has many years of experience in this, and its specialist expertise in prospectus review for listed companies and securities is unique on the market.”
