What the Berne Financial Services Agreement changes for UK–Swiss financial services

A different kind of market access

The BFSA, signed in Berne on 21 December 2023, works by deference: each side has reviewed the other's regulatory and supervisory framework and, for defined sectors, services and client categories, defers to it: a covered Swiss supplier serving UK clients complies with Swiss authorisation and prudential requirements, and vice versa. The Agreement is in force alongside a supervisory Memorandum of Understanding between the FCA, the PRA/Bank of England and FINMA, implemented in the UK through SI 2025/1145 and published in Switzerland in the systematic compilation as SR 0.950.136.7.

Coverage is deliberately selective: cross-border investment services from Switzerland into the UK; selected lines of non-life insurance for large corporate clients from the UK into Switzerland; relief for insurance intermediaries and client advisers; and confirmation of existing access in asset management, including marketing of alternative investment funds under the UK's national private placement regime. Ordinary retail business remains outside the framework; the only retail opening is the defined high-net-worth segment, and digital-asset services are not covered unless the token itself is a covered financial instrument under the host state's law. Implementation is overseen by a Joint Committee, with a review of the Agreement every five years.

Swiss firms: a direct route to UK wealth and institutional clients

The most commercially significant opening runs from Switzerland into the UK. A Swiss entity authorised and supervised by FINMA as a bank, securities firm, fund management company, manager of collective assets or portfolio manager can supply covered investment and ancillary services to UK clients in three categories: high-net-worth clients meeting the criteria of Annex 5 of the Agreement, per se professional clients and eligible counterparties (Annex 5, Section V.A), all without UK authorisation. Elective professional status alone does not qualify a client under Annex 5, although such a client may still meet the high-net-worth test; for fund marketing under Annex 1, elective professional clients are covered. Deference also covers a defined list of UK prudential measures, which the FCA and PRA describe as "most prudential requirements"; UK product intervention powers and trading-venue obligations remain outside it.

Four qualifications matter in practice. First, the firm must not already hold a UK Part 4A permission for the same service, instrument and client category; the two routes cannot be combined for the same business. Second, a Swiss firm with an existing UK branch may still use the BFSA, but the covered services must be supplied from the Swiss entity and outside the UK-authorised branch; deference extends to employees temporarily present in the UK, but not to branch staff. Third, the BFSA does not displace the Overseas Persons Exclusion, so firms currently relying on the OPE should compare the two routes; neither supersedes the other. Fourth, the firm must be authorised for, and actually supplying, the same services in Switzerland (Annex 5, Section IV.A); a service line built only for UK clients does not qualify.

The mechanics are those of a notification, with no application to decide: the firm notifies FINMA through the EHP platform; FINMA verifies eligibility and good standing within 60 days and confirms to the FCA; the FCA places the firm on its public BFSA register within a further 30 days, at which point services may begin. Registered firms owe annual reporting (by 30 April, for the preceding calendar year, via EHP) and must meet the client-facing conditions of Annex 5, including client classification, the prescribed disclosure document and the client's consent to disclosure of information to UK supervisors.

UK firms: insurance access into Switzerland

In the other direction, Switzerland defers to UK authorisation and prudential supervision for selected non-life insurance lines supplied to large Swiss corporate clients. A UK insurer within scope can write that business cross-border without Swiss authorisation, provided it has no or only limited life business, employs staff with relevant knowledge of Swiss insurance law, and is subject to Solvency II-derived requirements, meeting solvency without capital relief measures. Notification runs through the FCA's Connect system; the FCA and PRA jointly confirm eligibility to FINMA within 30 days (FCA and PRA guidelines, paragraph 3.23), and FINMA registers the firm within a further 30 days. Annual reporting to FINMA follows the same 30 April rhythm.

UK untied insurance intermediaries gain a separate benefit: the requirement to maintain a local presence in Switzerland falls away, and recognised UK professional qualifications are accepted as evidence of the required training. Intermediaries remain subject to the Swiss supervisory framework in other respects, including registration with FINMA. UK investment firms also benefit from relief for client advisers temporarily present in Switzerland without a permanent establishment, serving high-net-worth clients who have opted out of retail protection (assets of at least CHF 2 million): individual registration with Swiss registration bodies is replaced by a firm-level confirmation and notification to the FCA, together with prescribed client disclosure, while the firm remains responsible for its advisers' knowledge, insurance and ombudsman affiliation under FinSA.

What this means for you

For Swiss wealth managers, banks and securities firms with UK ambitions, and for UK insurers and brokers writing Swiss corporate risks, the route now exists. The practical worklist:

• Map your business model against the covered services and client categories. The deference is granular: service by service, instrument by instrument, client category by client category. Marketing plans should be built around the covered combinations.
• Check the interaction with your existing UK or Swiss footprint (Part 4A permissions, branches, OPE reliance) before notifying. The wrong sequencing can close the route you wanted.
• Prepare the client-facing layer: classification processes for the Annex 5 high-net-worth test, the prescribed disclosure document, the client's consent to disclosure of information to UK supervisors (without which covered services cannot be supplied or continued), and terms of business that reflect the cross-border supervisory position.
• Notify early and build the reporting habit. The 60-plus-30-day timeline rewards firms that file cleanly, and the first EHP report is due by 30 April of the year after registration, covering the part of the previous calendar year spent on the register; UK insurance intermediaries, which register under Swiss domestic law, report by 31 May under that regime.
• Watch the guidance. The joint PRA/FCA guidelines have been revised once since launch (on 23 January 2026), and FINMA's BFSA guidelines stand in their version of 8 January 2026; the FCA's BFSA page is the operational reference point.

Isak Legal advises firms on both sides of this framework: eligibility and perimeter analysis, notification, client documentation and ongoing obligations. See our United Kingdom page, or get in touch.

This client update is provided for general information only, reflects the position as at 26 September 2026 and does not constitute legal advice or create a lawyer–client relationship. For advice on a specific matter, please contact us.