Swiss SRO membership and company formation

Under the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act, any person or company acting as a financial intermediary — including many crypto-asset, payment, fiduciary and asset management businesses — must either be authorised and supervised directly by FINMA, or become a member of a self-regulatory organisation recognised by FINMA for AML and CFT supervision. FINMA currently recognises eleven such organisations, each authorised to admit and supervise members within defined activity scopes.

We prepare and package the full application file — business case, regulatory assessment, AML policy and AML officer arrangements — and manage the process with the SRO on your behalf.

• SRO membership gives access to the Swiss market for AML-regulated activities without a direct FINMA licence, and is generally faster and less resource-intensive to obtain.
• You will need a Swiss-registered legal entity, a documented regulatory business case, an AML policy tailored to your model, and a nominated AML officer with a deputy.
• Acceptance is not guaranteed. The SRO's compliance team conducts its own risk assessment and retains full discretion over admission.
• GmbH share capital of CHF 20,000 must be fully paid before registration — Swiss law does not permit partial payment. Capital is deposited into a blocked account and released once the commercial register confirms incorporation.
• At least one signatory must be resident in Switzerland under the domicile principle — a director, managing officer or appointed local representative.
• Ongoing obligations once admitted include client due diligence, regular AML audits, transaction monitoring and periodic reporting, including to the Money Laundering Reporting Office where relevant.