The Anti-Money Laundering Act in 2026: architecture and supervision

Who is subject to the Act

The Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of 10 October 1997 (Anti-Money Laundering Act, AMLA), SR 955.0, applies to two groups of persons. The first consists of financial intermediaries, the second of natural persons and legal entities that deal in goods commercially and in doing so accept cash, whom the Act calls dealers (Art. 2(1) AMLA).¹ Article 2(2) AMLA lists the institutions that are financial intermediaries by virtue of their prudential licence. They are banks, portfolio managers and trustees under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA), fund management companies, investment companies and collective asset managers, life insurers, securities firms, central counterparties and central securities depositories, payment systems, DLT trading facilities, casinos, large-scale game operators and the trade assayers licensed under the precious metals legislation together with their group companies. Article 2(3) AMLA adds a general clause for all persons who, on a professional basis, accept or hold on deposit assets belonging to others or assist in their investment or transfer. Its examples include credit business, payment services, trading in banknotes, coins, foreign exchange, precious metals and securities, investment advice and the safekeeping of securities.²

The structure has consequences for Lugano. The banks, the portfolio managers and trustees licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the gold refineries of the Mendrisiotto are covered under paragraph 2. The commercial fiduciaries who administer companies for clients, the payment service providers, the currency exchange offices near the border and many service providers for Kryptowerte und Digital Assets fall under the general clause of paragraph 3. Until 30 September 2026 lawyers and notaries were covered only when they acted as financial intermediaries, for example as directors of domiciliary companies with signing authority over bank accounts or as administrators of client assets. The revision in force since 1 October 2026 adds certain advisory activities to the scope of the Act, as the section on the reform below explains.

Three supervisory channels

The Act does not create one supervisor for all. Institutions with a prudential licence are supervised by FINMA, which enforces the AMLA through its ordinance on money laundering (AMLO-FINMA) and through its general powers under the Financial Market Supervision Act. Portfolio managers and trustees under FinIA are licensed by FINMA but supervised on an ongoing basis by one of the supervisory organizations authorized by FINMA, as Chapter E.III explains. Financial intermediaries under Article 2(3) AMLA must join a self-regulatory organization (SRO) recognized by FINMA. An SRO is recognized if it has regulations that meet the requirements of Article 25 AMLA and supervises its members' compliance with the due diligence duties. It must also ensure that its inspectors have the required specialist knowledge and independence, and work with licensed audit firms (Art. 24 AMLA).³ For two decades Ticino had its own SRO for fiduciaries, the Organismo di autodisciplina dei fiduciari del Cantone Ticino (OAD FCT), based in Lugano. FINMA's list of recognized SROs as at October 2026 no longer includes it and names ten organizations, none of them with its seat in Ticino, so that Ticino intermediaries who need an SRO now join one of these national bodies.⁴

The third channel concerns precious metals. The trade assayers and refiners of the Mendrisiotto were for many years supervised for anti-money laundering purposes by FINMA. Following a reorganization, the AML supervision of these businesses passed to the Central Office for Precious Metals Control within the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS). According to the Swiss Federal Audit Office, the Central Office was to have the same supervisory instruments as FINMA had before. The Central Office strengthened its staff at the end of 2020 and created three units by 1 January 2022 for independent supervision.⁵ Chapter F.I describes the refineries themselves. For the purposes of this chapter one point matters. The three largest Ticino refineries, which process a significant share of the world's gold, are subject to a sectoral AML supervisor that is small compared with FINMA and that operates under a separate statute.

Notes

1. Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of 10 October 1997 (Anti-Money Laundering Act, AMLA), SR 955.0, Art. 2(1), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-2-5.html (version before the amendments in force since 1 October 2026). ↩
2. Art. 2(2) and (3) AMLA (above). The list in para. 2 was amended several times, among others by the Financial Institutions Act with effect from 1 January 2020 and by the DLT Act with effect from 1 August 2021. ↩
3. Art. 24 AMLA, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-24-37.html. ↩
4. FINMA, Self-regulatory organisations (SROs) recognised by FINMA, list as at 4 October 2026, https://www.finma.ch/en/~/media/finma/dokumente/bewilligungstraeger/pdf/sro.pdf (AOOS, ARIF, PolyReg, SRO SLV, SRO SAV/SNV, SRO-SVV, SRO SVIG, SO-FIT, SRO-Treuhand Suisse, VQF). On the history of the OAD FCT see Chapter E.III. ↩
5. Swiss Federal Audit Office (EFK), Synthesebericht zur Wirtschaftskriminalität (EFK-21447) – Stand der Dinge, statement of the FOCBS, https://efk.admin.ch/wp-content/uploads/publikationen/berichte/sicherheit_und_umwelt/ justiz_und_polizei/21447/kurze-darstellung-zum-aktuellen-stand-bazg-pa-21447.pdf. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.