Delay in the Revision of the CISA

by Christian Koller

As reported on Financial Law Update the Collective Investment Schemes Act is currently revised. By the close of the consultation period on October 7, 2011, more than 90 statements commenting on the draft bill of July 4, 2011 were submitted to the Federal Finance Department with a wide range of proposals for amendments of very heterogeneous nature. It is expected that this will delay the law making process by approximately 3-6 months, resulting in the revised CISA not coming into force prior to 4th Quarter of 2012 or even the 1st Quarter of 2013. It remains yet to be seen whether such delay will impede the access of those Swiss fund managers which are currently unregulated to the EU market under the AIFM directive; under such European directive Swiss alternative investment funds managers having an EU exposure would basically be required to be supervised by FINMA as from 2013 (pls. see our respective article on the “EU Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers-New Challenges for the Funds Industry”). We shall keep you posted on new developments.