July 2025
Swiss Finance Council members include some of the largest global asset and wealth management firms, many of which have substantial activities and make substantial investments in the EU. Our members operate as investment product manufacturers, distributors, and advisors, serving EU clients from both within the EU and on a cross-border basis, and non-EU clients investing in the EU. Given that the EU and Swiss economies are closely interconnected, we have a shared interest in ensuring the international competitiveness of the European economy. Our members are therefore deeply committed to the EU’s goal of building an effective and open Savings and Investments Union (SIU) that helps capital flow to EU projects and businesses that are key to foster citizens’ wealth, while boosting EU economic growth and competitiveness.
Increasing the scale of the CMU also requires attracting external capital into the EU. The stock of Swiss Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the EU is around EUR 630 bn (2024), representing nearly half of FDI originating from Switzerland. The EU and Switzerland should look to strengthen their relationship, including through the consideration of measures that would promote provision of cross-border financial services and products and cross border investment, to the benefit of businesses and investors across Europe.
SFC Recommendations at a glance :
- Foster supervisory convergence within the SIU. The benefits of single supervision can be realized under the existing passporting framework by empowering ESMA and NCA coordination without the risk of additional redundant supervisory levels.
- Make Europe faster and simpler. Consistently apply risk-based proportionality across all EU financial regulations. Avoid wholesale directive-to-regulation conversions and inappropriate regime merges. Enhance ESMA/NCA coordination rather than create new supervisory bodies and streamline overlapping reporting requirements.
- Streamline fund passporting rules. Many Member States gold-plate UCITS/AIFMD notifications with extra filings, approvals, local-law marketing materials, or public notices-adding delays, costs, and administrative burdens-while some still require local agents or paying agents as a de facto physical presence.
- Allow third country jurisdictions and firms to opt-in to the SIU. Develop an institution-based approach for third country firms to provide cross-border financial services to the benefit of EU capital markets, in particular for closely connected markets such as Switzerland with high regulatory and supervisory standards.
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