It has been announced that Switzerland's answer to the Financial Action Task Force's revamped 'recommendations' of 2012 will have to be observed by the end of the year, if not sooner. The relevant bill passed through the Swiss parliament last month.

It was in December 2013 that the Federal Council (Switzerland's 'seven-headed president') "adopted the dispatch on the new Federal Act for Implementing the Revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations" for the attention of parliament. Its eventual passage entailed very few alterations. For years in the run-up to 11th September 2001, Switzerland dragged its heels when confronted with international pressure from France, Germany and the United States, the three nations that run the FATF, to reform its money-laundering laws. Since then it has embraced reform along the lines dictated by others with enthusiasm, sometimes being referred to as 'the pagan who became a born-again Christian.'

The law, when it comes into force, will introduces changes in seven areas as follows:
* More 'transparency' in the case of legal entities and bearer shares, whereby the requirements of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes are also met
* More stringent obligations for financial intermediaries when identifying the beneficial owners of legal entities
* Extension of the term 'politically exposed person' (PEP) to include domestic PEPs and international organisation PEPs, as well as introduction of corresponding risk-based due diligence obligations, but with the notorious 'nephew's exemption' left in
* Introduction of a predicate offence for serious cases in the area of direct taxation and extension of the existing criminal offence of smuggling in the customs area to indirect taxation
* Mandatory involvement of a financial intermediary for cash payments of more than CHF 100,000 for purchases of movable or immovable property
* A better system for reporting suspicious activity
* Better adherence to the FATF standard regarding financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing.