FinIA reform: new licences for payment and crypto-institutions

Blog

27-10-2025

2 minutes read

On 22 October 2025, the Swiss Federal Council opened a consultation on a proposed amendment to the Financial Institutions Act (the FinIA). The draft legislation aims to abolish the fintech licence introduced in 2018 under the Swiss Banking Act (the BA), and replaces it with two new categories of licences: one for payment instrument institutions (Zahlungsmittelinstitute) and another for crypto-institutions (Krypto-Institute).

Switzerland reviews fintech framework

Switzerland has assumed a pioneering role in the development and implementation of a legal and regulatory framework governing fintech and blockchain technologies. In an evaluation report published in December 2022, the Swiss Federal Council concluded that certain adjustments are necessary to further enhance the attractiveness of Switzerland’s regulatory framework. Particularly, the fintech licence has achieved only limited success. FINMA has recently revoked the authorisation of a fintech-licensed firm, leaving only four institutions currently operating under this regime.

In the evaluation report, feedback from the industry included comments that the approval process was too lengthy and that consideration should be given to whether the threshold of CHF 100 million in customer deposits should be maintained. FINMA also pointed to the lack of protection for client funds in the event of bankruptcy, which requires increased supervision.

Two new licences under FinIA

The Federal Council’s initiative aims to strengthen Switzerland’s position as an innovative and competitive financial centre while ensuring consistency with international standards. To this end, the Federal Council proposes the introduction of two new licences in the FinIA.

The new licence for payment instrument institutions will replace the fintech licence, remove the existing CHF 100 million deposit cap, and require the segregation of client funds. The licensed activity of payment institutions, similar to the previous fintech institutions, involves accepting customer funds without paying interest and without engaging in lending or other credit-related business. Further, such institutions will be allowed to issue a type of stablecoin, subject to specific requirements.

The crypto-institution licence, meanwhile, will introduce a lighter regulatory framework than that applicable to securities firms. The activities of a crypto institution involve providing various services related to crypto-based assets with trading characteristics. Specifically, this includes the custody of such assets (including the provision of staking services), as well as client trading and short-term proprietary trading which also encompasses cryptocurrency exchange services. Crypto-based assets with trading characteristics are all crypto-based assets that do not qualify as utility tokens under current FINMA practice, nor as financial instruments, stable-value crypto-based payment tokens, or banking deposits.

The consultation process will end on 6 February 2026.