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The Financial Services Act (FinSA) and its implementing ordinance (FinSO) as well as the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) and its implementing ordinance (FinSO) entered into force on 1 January 2020. However, due to generous transitional periods, life went on almost as if nothing had happened for most financial services providers.

Wirecard has proven once again that stellar growth and stunning revenues do not always mean that a company is well-founded. Although the board of directors has responsibilities towards the shareholders and the latter have certain information rights, organisational failure and mismanagement often remain unnoticed until it's too late. Additional corporate governance laying down the fundamentals on management and organisation is therefore vital for long-term success, to ensure that the checks and balances among the stakeholders involved (shareholders, founders, and employees) are appropriate.

The hype around initial coin offerings and new DLT-protocol launches has calmed down. The technology has proven its ability to revolutionise the financial market industry, but also other industries, by serving as an infrastructure where physical and digital assets or financial instruments can be tokenised in rivalrous cryptographic tokens and exchanged in a secure, cost-efficient and reliable manner. The next stage for DLT-technology to enter into full productivity is to have built the surrounding infrastructure, tools and service providers. Trading signals and copy trading are among such additional tools.

The new prospectus regime, including its exemptions, is also applicable to bonds and convertible bonds issued in Switzerland. But even if an exemption to publish a prospectus would apply, there are still some important specialities to be taken into consideration in relation to bond offerings in Switzerland and in particular to convertible bonds.

The Swiss Federal Council initiated a consultation on an amendment of the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (CISA), aiming to introduce a new, unregulated fund category called "Limited Qualified Investor Fund (L-QIF)", reserved exclusively for qualified investors. By introducing the L-QIF, Switzerland establishes a Swiss fund category similar to the Luxembourg Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF) or the Malta Notified Alternative Investment Fund (NAIF). The consultation of the Federal Council will last until 17 October 2019.

In every Initial Token Offering (also known as Initial Coin Offering) we have to strive to create a token which will catch the interest of the community. This first of all requires forethought and an understanding of what is driving the community, but it also needs to focus on creating a sound legal basis for years to come, no matter how often the token has been transferred, be it online or through the transfer of an offline wallet. Token structuring therefore is also a task for the lawyers.

Blockchain technology has become a reality as part of the digitalisation of the economy. Every day, there is proof of disruptive transformations of long-standing mechanisms into new ecosystems on the blockchain. While existing market participants are in many cases overwhelmed by the new normal, the new players operate with the greatest creativity and efficiency.

In the framework of the proposed general revision of Swiss corporate law, the Federal Council intends to overhaul the existing restructuring regime for distressed companies. The objective of the effort is to create incentives for distressed companies to take the necessary restructuring measures as early as possible and, by doing so, avoid bankruptcy.

The rapid evolution in FinTech has not only attracted the attention of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) but eventually pushed the Swiss government to propose FinTech specific amendments to the Banking Act and other financial laws. On 1 February 2017 the Federal Council opened a consultation on new draft regulations designed to reduce barriers to entry for FinTech firms and to strengthen the attractiveness of the Swiss financial markets.