Progress in Implementing Open Finance in Switzerland

Open Finance allows financial institutions to share their customers' financial data with other service providers via secure, standardised interfaces. This gives customers access to innovative products such as comprehensive financial statements or carbon footprint calculations of their assets.

In Switzerland, unlike in the EU or the UK, there's no legal requirement for financial institutions to share data with third parties. However, the Swiss Federal Council expects the private sector to drive forward the standardisation of interfaces. In December 2022, the Council asked the Federal Department of Finance to propose measures by June 2024 if the financial industry does not sufficiently support the openness of data interfaces.

The Federal Council's objectives for Open Finance (common standards, opening of interfaces, scalability) have not yet been fully achieved, but the Federal Council regards the Multibanking Initiative, for which 40 banks have signed a declaration of intent, as a clear commitment by the banking sector to Open Finance. The implementation of the Multibanking Initiative remains to be seen.

The Federal Council's press release can be found here.