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The Swiss Bankers Association welcomes a revision of the Stock Exchange Act article
governing international administrative assistance and also calls for a rapid revision of
the relevant article of the Swiss Penal Code dealing with insider trading
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Basel, 5 April 2004 - The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) supports the Swiss Finance
Ministry's proposed revision of the article in the Stock Exchange Act governing
international administrative assistance in cases of insider trading as such activity
damages the integrity and reputation of Switzerland as a financial centre. The SBA also
calls for a rapid revision of the relevant article (Art. 161) in the Swiss Penal Code
dealing with insider trading.
The Swiss Bankers Association supports the Swiss Finance Ministry's proposed revision of
the article in the Stock Exchange Act governing international administrative assistance.
The proposed revised version of Article 38 of the Act clamps down on the abuse of the
Swiss securities market for insider trading by making it easier for the Swiss Federal
Banking Commission to extend administrative assistance to its foreign counterparts.
Current Swiss law, as interpreted by the Federal Supreme Court, places considerable
restrictions on the degree of administrative assistance the Federal Banking Commission can
offer to foreign regulators in cases of insider trading. These restrictions risk damaging
Switzerland's reputation as a financial centre and could lead to a risk of sanctions for
internationally-active Swiss banks. The SBA therefore believes there is an urgent need for
swift and concrete action.
The Finance Ministry's proposal represents a balanced solution to the problem as it
pragmatically joins the interest of customers for legal rights on the one hand with the
need for effective market supervision on the other. The problem and the need for a
solution are inherently limited to securities market supervision. The SBA welcomes the
fact that the proposed revised article continues to explicitly guarantee legal rights for
those involved.
The SBA also takes the opportunity to call once again for swift action in connection with
the forthcoming revision of the relevant article (Art. 161) of the Penal Code governing
insider trading. Article 161 as it stands at present conforms neither to our conception of
the law nor to current market practice as in our view it contains too narrow a definition
of "insider trading". A swift and effective revision could be achieved by
deleting Paragraph 3 of the article containing the restrictive definition.
PDF SBA's consultative paper (in German only)
| Contacts |
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| Thomas Sutter |
James Nason |
| Head of Communications Switzerland |
Head of International Communications |
Swiss Bankers Association,
Basel |
Swiss Bankers Association,
Basel |
| Tel. +41 61 295 92 06 |
Tel. +41 61 295 92 15 |
| Fax +41 61 272 53 82 |
Fax +41 61 272 53 82 |
 www.swissbanking.org |
www.swissbanking.org |
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