From this year forth, interested parties are allowed to apply for the Swiss federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority's new financial technology or FinTech licence.

FINMA has the sole power to grant such a licence and has published guidelines which, it hopes, will simplify the application process.

To help FinTech start-ups, the Swiss parliament recently introduced the new licence by amending article 1b Banking Act to classify such companies as 'persons.' The licence relaxes the regulatory rules that its holders have to follow. The Federal Council has set out the terms of the licence in the Banking Ordinance. It allows institutions to accept public deposits of up to SFr100 million (€88.9 million) as long as these are not invested and no interest is paid on them. An institution with a FinTech licence must also have its registered office - and conduct its business activities - in Switzerland.

The guidelines point out the information and documents that an applicant must usually submit when making an application. Any change to the basis on which the licence was granted must be reported to FINMA and approval must be sought before operations continue, according to article 8a Banking Ordinance.

When applicants submit 'general information' about themselves, this should include: their reasons for applying for a licence; a description of their proposed activity and organisation, including their geographical scope and target clientele; certified extracts from the commercial register; information about their business premises, infrastructure and people; and information about offices and the companies in their groups.

Organisationally, each firm should divulge its share capital (structure, allocation, nominal value, subscription etc.); all participants with a direct or indirect holding of 5% or more; all directly or indirectly qualified participants to the level of beneficial owner, broken down by shares of voting rights and capital and displayed as a picture; and information about any agreements and other ways in which the applicant firm may be controlled or influenced.

It should also submit information about anyone entrusted with the administration and management of its business, e.g. the composition of the governing body entrusted with its administration of the business and the composition of the executive board. It must submit a slew of documents that prove their identities, curricula vitae, criminal records, if any, and employment contracts. They must make declarations about other directorships and any pending legal proceedings.

With regard to business activity and internal organisation, the regulator wants to see a detailed description of business activities and processes, a business plan including a budget for the next three financial years with optimistic, realistic and pessimistic scenarios, an organogram of employees, compliance policies, outsourcing arrangements, and details of any conflicts of interest.

The firm must divulge plenty of information about its financial assets and its auditors. It must always report: changes relating to vital documents, such as the articles of association; changes relating to holders of qualified participations; changes in managers; organisational changes; new internal corporate governance regulations; new activities or the cessation of some activities; and changes in the outsourcing of core services. Depending on the nature of the changes, it may be advisable to discuss them with FINMA in advance.