Future of Swiss financial centre advisory board gets to work

The future of the financial centre advisory board appointed by the Federal Council held its first meeting on 9 June. It discussed the topics to be addressed as a matter of priority and acknowledged additional Federal Council decisions on the recommendations made by the group of experts for the further development of the financial market strategy.

On 5 December 2014, the Federal Council decided to appoint an advisory board charged with assessing the future challenges and prospects for the financial centre from a strategic viewpoint and submitting recommendations for action to it if need be. Led by Professor Aymo Brunetti, the advisory board is comprised of representatives from the authorities and the private sector, as well as academia.

The advisory board will closely follow the implementation of the recommendations made by the group of experts for the further development of the financial market strategy. Back on 18 February 2015, the Federal Council took decisions on various recommendations, particularly with regard to the too-big-to-fail regime. The advisory board has also taken note of the further work within the administration decided by the Federal Council and entrusted to the Federal Department of Finance. For example, means of optimising how the deposit protection system works will be examined. Moreover, the Swiss tax system's current incentives to take on debt are to be analysed in depth in terms of action required to improve financial stability. In addition, the competent authorities must ensure that double taxation effects that could arise as a result of the introduction of a financial transaction tax in the EU and other jurisdictions are avoided.

During its first meeting, the advisory board agreed on how it would operate and drew up a plan for priority topics to be addressed in detail. The advisory board's deliberations are not public.