Legal & Regulatory News

Swiss Federal Council adopts report and guidelines on sustainable finance

The Swiss Federal Council (the Federal Council) has released a report and corresponding guidelines on sustainability in the financial sector, with a view to making Switzerland a leading location for sustainable financial services.

The Federal Council has identified framework conditions for the Swiss financial centre in the area of sustainability and sustainable growth, which it says will be further developed by the end of 2020. The Federal Council intends to shape the framework conditions in such a way that, firstly, the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre is continuously improved and, secondly, the financial sector can make an effective contribution to sustainability in line with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The report released by the Federal Council is entitled, 'Sustainability in Switzerland's financial sector: Situation analysis and positioning with a focus on environmental aspects' (the Report) and was prepared by a cross-departmental working group, which examined thirteen measures for sustainability in the financial sector in detail, some of which are also being discussed at EU level. The Federal Council has also published the accompanying guidelines (the Guidelines) which are based on the Report.

Click here to access the press release.

Click here to access the Federal Council report.

Click here to access the Guidelines.