BX Swiss and SIX Exchange Regulation secure licenses as reviewing bodies for prospectuses
The reviewing bodies review and approve the prospectuses in connection with public offers of securities.
Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) today announces that it has granted BX Swiss AG and SIX Exchange Regulation AG licences as reviewing bodies for prospectuses effective June 1, 2020.
The reviewing bodies regulated in accordance with the Financial Services Act (FinSA) have the task of checking the prospectuses published in connection with a public offer of securities or the admission of securities to trading on a stock exchange with regard to their completeness, coherence and clarity and approving them. This is intended to ensure a uniform and adequate quality of the prospectuses. Both of the newly licensed reviewing bodies have already reviewed prospectuses in connection with the admission of securities to trading on a stock exchange in the past.
The reviewing bodies themselves must be licensed by FINMA. However, the reviewing bodies will not be subject to prudential supervision by the regulator after being licensed. In particular, according to the law, sole responsibility for reviewing the prospectuses lies with the reviewing bodies. However, they must report important changes to FINMA, and submit an annual activity report.
The six-month transitional period provided for in the Financial Services Ordinance (FinSO) will begin to run with the licensing of the two reviewing bodies: from December 1, 2020, prospectuses which have been approved in advance by one of these reviewing bodies must be published ahead of a public offer of securities or the admission of securities to trading on a stock exchange.
