Switzerland intends to tighten anti-money laundering rules – Kommersant

Today, August 30, the Swiss government presented bill to tighten anti-money laundering regulations. Discussions on the bill will continue until the end of November, and next year the government should submit its final version to parliament.

The bill, in particular, provides for the requirement for companies to indicate in the federal register the data of their beneficiaries. True, such a register will not be public and will be available only to the authorities. According to the draft, such changes should “increase transparency, which will allow law enforcement agencies to determine with greater speed and reliability who is really behind the legal entity.”

In addition, the bill provides for measures to prevent “violation or circumvention” of sanctions. Another innovation is the extension of existing anti-money laundering regulations to consulting companies, including legal advice. In addition, it is planned to lower the upper limit of the purchase of precious metals and stones for cash from 100,000 francs ($114,000) to 15,000 francs ($17,000).

Switzerland is regularly criticized for not being active enough in the fight against money laundering and maintaining regulations protecting bank secrecy. In recent years, the Swiss authorities have already tightened the rules in this regard, however, according to critics, not enough. In particular, the United States regularly criticizes Switzerland for insufficient measures to combat sanctions circumvention, money laundering, etc.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya