On 30 September 2026, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) opened a consultation on the partial revision of its Circular 2017/6 “Direct transmission”. Interested parties have until 27 November 2026 to submit their views. At this stage it is a draft: the text put out for consultation is not yet the final version of the circular, and FINMA may still amend it at the end of the procedure.
This revision is not a stand-alone initiative by the supervisory authority. It stems from a legislative amendment adopted earlier by Parliament, which FINMA must now reflect in its practice.
A circular based on Article 42c FINMASA
In Circular 2017/6, FINMA bases its practice mainly on Article 42c of the Financial Market Supervision Act (FINMASA). It is this provision that governs the direct transmission of information by supervised institutions, and it is this provision that has changed.
On 19 June 2026, Parliament amended Article 42c FINMASA. According to FINMA, the main purpose of the partial revision of the circular is to take account of these general legal amendments. In other words, the authority does not present the draft as a change of course on its own initiative, but as bringing its implementing text into line with the revised law.
The scope is therefore precise: a FINMA circular, that is, a document in which the authority sets out how it applies the law in force. The substantive rule, for its part, is laid down by the law, and amending it is a matter for the legislature, not for FINMA.
What changes in the law
According to FINMA's press release, the amendment to Article 42c FINMASA concerns two main points.
- A clearer distinction between paragraphs 1 and 3. The former paragraph 2 becomes paragraph 3, and the separation between these two paragraphs is clarified. The aim is to better distinguish direct transmissions made for financial market supervision purposes from those made for other purposes, as different conditions apply to each.
- A general legal presumption in the new paragraph 2. Article 42c paragraph 2 FINMASA introduces, in favour of supervised institutions, a presumption that the requirements of confidentiality and purpose limitation are in principle deemed to be met when data is transmitted for financial market supervision purposes.
According to FINMA, these changes are intended to enhance legal certainty for supervised institutions. The presumption applies “in principle”: the press release does not specify in which cases it might be set aside, nor how it interacts in practice with the conditions applicable to transmissions made for other purposes.
Who is affected
The press release explicitly names the institutions supervised by FINMA as the beneficiaries of these clarifications, in particular of the new legal presumption. They are the ones who carry out the direct transmissions covered by Article 42c FINMASA and by Circular 2017/6, and they therefore have the greatest interest in examining the draft.
For these institutions, the practical issue lies in the distinction between the two categories of transmissions. Whether a transmission falls under financial market supervision or serves another purpose determines the applicable conditions and, from now on, whether or not the presumption regarding confidentiality and purpose limitation applies. It is on how the circular will translate this distinction into practice that the consultation offers a say.
What the press release does not say
FINMA's press release is brief. It does not detail, chapter by chapter, the changes made to the text of the circular. Nor does it give an entry-into-force date for the revised circular or for the amended Article 42c FINMASA. Institutions wishing to assess the practical impact of the draft on their processes will therefore need to refer to the consultation documents themselves rather than to the press release alone.
The nature of the procedure should also be borne in mind. The very purpose of a consultation is to gather views before a text is adopted. What is presented today is a proposal by FINMA; the final version of the circular, and its date of application, have yet to be set.
Timeline
- 19 June 2026: Parliament amends Article 42c FINMASA.
- 30 September 2026: FINMA opens the consultation on the partial revision of Circular 2017/6 “Direct transmission”.
- 27 November 2026: the consultation closes.
The institutions and organisations concerned thus have just under two months to submit their comments to FINMA.
