16 dicembre 2022
A credible sustainable financial centre without greenwashing

Today, the Federal Council published its Sustainable Finance Strategy for the Swiss financial center up to the year 2025 and defined fields of action for measures to be developed. The Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) welcomes this strategy update and, together with the other Swiss financial associations, supports the common goal of establishing a leading sustainable financial center.

Switzerland needs a holistic climate strategy
However, AMAS is convinced that this goal, and in particular the net zero goal, can only be achieved in line with a holistic Swiss climate strategy that includes all parts of the Swiss economy. AMAS therefore considers a revised Swiss CO2 law to be an elementary step towards strengthening the international competitiveness of the financial center within the framework of an overall strategy and to manifest its high credibility in sustainability.
The Federal Council has also defined the further course of action to avoid greenwashing in the financial market. Like the Federal Council, AMAS takes the view that there is a need for a clear and general understanding of when a financial product or service can be offered as sustainable. AMAS will take part in the working group that is set up implement greenwashing prevention.

Financial products must show sustainability impact
AMAS welcomes the fact that the Federal Council advocates differentiated communication to investors on the sustainability impact of investment products. Products that only include sustainability indicators or exclude certain companies lack a direct link to sustainability goals.
In its self-regulation on transparency and disclosure for collective assets with sustainability reference published last September, AMAS no longer classified such products as "sustainable". The binding requirements contained in the self-regulation serve the goal of establishing high quality standards for sustainability-related financial investments in the Swiss asset management industry.
Self-regulation continues to pursue the goal of preventing and combating greenwashing at the organizational and product levels mentioned by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). AMAS remains convinced of the subsidiary role of the state. The implementation of self-regulation and the development of its effect remain to be seen.

New product category for impact investments
Among the further measures for a leading sustainable financial center, the Federal Council has identified the mainstreaming of impact investments. A working group with industry representatives is to examine the introduction of a new product category oriented towards the characteristics of a Long-Term Investment Fund (LTIF). Another working group is also to develop measures to ensure that financial institutions active in the private client and retail segment can meet the high requirements for the quality of advice to distribute impact investments in the form of an LTIF. AMAS considers this necessary, as such products have a higher degree of complexity and are associated with risks.
In principle, an LTIF in the impact sector could achieve the goal of increasing the volume of project financing by opening a new asset class to private investors. Previous experience with the European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) has shown that this would only be effective if the minimum investment threshold were set at a correspondingly low level (e.g. CHF 10,000).

15 dicembre 2022
Wir feiern 30 Jahre

Unser Verband wird 30 Jahre alt! Und so feiern unsere Mitglieder und Vorstände das Jubiläum:

14 dicembre 2022
ASIP ESG-Reporting 2022

Der ASIP verfolgt daher das Ziel, über ein regelmässiges, ganzheitliches Reporting die Transparenz bezüglich ESG-Umsetzung zu erhöhen. Im Fokus steht eine transparente Offenlegung von ESG-Informationen, mit welchen alle involvierten Stakeholder nachverfolgen können, wie die Pensionskassen investiert sind und welche Entwicklungsschritte bezüglich Nachhaltigkeit realisiert werden. Dazu soll der heute publizierte ESG-Reporting-Standard dienen. In ein ESG-Reporting gehören qualitative Aussagen zur Art und Weise, wie die Pensionskassen mit diesem Thema umgehen, und auch quantitative
Angaben zu einzelnen Anlagen.
Der vorliegende Standard wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Verbänden - u.a. der Asset Management Association, Swiss Sustainable Finance und den Anlagestiftungen - erarbeitet.

24 novembre 2022
Pacta Climate Test 2022: Potential for climate-friendly financial flows

In the PACTA Climate Test published today, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has again taken stock of the climate compatibility of financial flows. While the FOEN identifies potential for further development in the report, AMAS points out that Swiss asset managers provide their clients also with other transparent methods for the differentiated assessment of the climate compatibility of a portfolio.

9 novembre 2022
Vorwürfe an Schweizer Asset Manager und falsche Thesen im Buch «Das Rentendebakel»: Die AMAS bezieht Stellung

Im kürzlich erschienenen Buch «Das Rentendebakel» weisen die Autoren auf Systemfehler im Schweizer Vorsorgesystem der 2. Säule hin und verurteilen die Finanzindustrie pauschal, Vorsorgegelder zu verspielen. Die AMAS hatte im Vorfeld zu einem Fragenkatalog der Autoren für das Buch ausführlich Stellung genommen. Die Antworten der AMAS sind in dem Buch jedoch kaum und nur mit Weglassungen berücksichtigt worden. Um das verzerrte und teils schlicht falsche Bild zu berichtigen, welches in dem Buch zur Rolle der Asset Manager im Schweizer Vorsorgesystem gezeichnet wird, legt die AMAS zu den Hauptpunkten hier nochmals die Fakten dar.

1 novembre 2022
Willkommen Guillaume Toffel!

Guillaume stösst als Senior Legal Counsel zur AMAS, nachdem er zuvor in der Abteilung Asset Management der FINMA tätig war. Er studierte Rechtswissenschaften in Freiburg, Heidelberg und Philadelphia (UPenn). Er verfügt über ein Anwaltspatent und war als Anwalt in Genf und anschliessend bei einer Beratungsfirma tätig.

5 ottobre 2022
AMAS and SSF present template for calculating Swiss Climate Scores

The Swiss Climate Scores (SCS), launched by the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) in June 2022, establish best-practice transparency on the Paris-alignment of financial investments to foster investment decisions that contribute to reaching the climate goals. The SCS introduce six indicators which are based on existing and internationally established criteria and methods.To clarify open issues, upon publication of these indicators, AMAS and SSF in a joint working group initiated the work to create a template that guarantees standardised calculation of the different indicators and uniformly displays results. Through the extensive know-how from experts in the field, AMAS and SSF are now able to present an excel template that supports Swiss actors in providing comparable reports on the Swiss Climate Scores. This template, based on expert consensus, is available to the general public and supplies users with needed definitions and calculations to be able to better understand and report on the recommended indicators. SIF encourages financial players to voluntarily report on these six indicators on a portfolio level to fulfil the SCS, creating comparable data sets for stakeholders. The Federal Council recommends that Swiss financial market players apply the SCS to financial investments and client portfolios where appropriate.This first version of this template is a starting point and will be tested by industry players. We thank all members of our joint working group on Sustainable Finance that contributed to the development of this tool. We welcome any feedbacks for future improvements.

26 settembre 2022
Sustainable finance: AMAS introduces self-regulation for asset managers and designers of collective investment products

AMAS continues to raise the bar for quality and transparency of sustainable assets managed collectively with its new self-regulation framework for sustainable finance. This framework lays down the organisational requirements for financial institutions, as well as for product design and disclosures to investors. With this voluntary self-regulation framework, AMAS raises the standards of the Swiss financial centre in sustainable finance, both in Switzerland and abroad.
For the first time, financial institutions that design and manage collective sustainable investment products will be subject to binding and self-regulated standards, along with disclosure obligations.
The "Self-regulation on transparency and disclosure for collective assets with sustainability relevance" was developed under a broad-based approach. It will come into force on 30 September 2023. With its explicit references to both institutional and product levels, it dovetails with the self-regulation process of client advisory that the Swiss Bankers Association has introduced.

5 settembre 2022
AMAS expands the Datacenter

The "AMAS Datacenter" is now available to our members in a greatly expanded and revised version. We have expanded the offer in the individual categories so that data can now be accessed in greater detail.The "AMAS Datacenter", launched last April, allows comprehensive access and download of data and statistics on the fund and asset management industry in Switzerland.We make current data on the following topics available in a collected form:

- Asset Management
- Pension & Savings
- Sustainability
- Swiss Fund Market

All figures and graphics can be exported as images, PDF or Excel files and used for personal purposes. The second, revised version of the data center offers a greatly expanded range of data, a clearer look and simplified navigation.

25 agosto 2022
Withholding tax: A sensible reform

The Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) supports the campaign in favor of the reform of the withholding tax. This is because the reform is a tax prerequisite that promotes favorable conditions for the Swiss capital market. AMAS strives to promote this goal and is publishing the position paper "A sensible reform of the withholding tax that will bring additional tax revenue and new jobs to Switzerland".