Switzerland expects financial services deal with Britain in summer 2023

Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer and his British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt, held a meeting in London on Thursday for an update on the agreement. Keystone / Andy Rain

Switzerland expects to conclude a deal with Britain on cooperation in financial services by late summer next year, its finance ministry said on Thursday. This followed a meeting in London between Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer and his British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt.

The agreement, which has been several years in the making, is aimed at facilitating or improving cross-border market access in the banking, insurance, asset management and capital market infrastructure sectors. 

On Thursday Maurer met Hunt in the British capital for an update on the agreement.

“They welcomed the progress made in the negotiations on a mutual recognition agreement in the financial sector, and looked forward to its finalisation by the end of summer 2023,” the finance ministry said in a statementExternal link.

“With this agreement, Switzerland and the United Kingdom wish to reaffirm their commitment to the importance of open financial markets and international financial stability, and to consolidate their position as leading international financial centres in Europe,” it stated.

Both countries say they are committed to “protecting investors and insured persons, as well as maintaining market integrity and financial stability, while adhering to the highest regulatory standards”.

It had previously been hoped that the agreement would be finalised by the end of 2022.

‘New paradigm’

The so-called Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) aims to align common standards and supervisory goals and set the foundation for banks and insurance companies in Switzerland and Britain to boost business in each other’s markets.

The MRA will be followed by an updated free-trade agreement (FTA), which will outline the precise terms of future cross-border trade across a variety of industries. The current FTA was rolled over from the 1972 Swiss-EU trade treaty when Britain left the EU on January 31, 2020.

A report last month from the City of London Corporation, TheCityUK, and the Professional and Business Services Council urged a speedy mutual recognition deal, saying it would represent a “new paradigm” in international services trade to cut compliance costs and boost growth.

The progress report on the financial services agreement comes amid a series of cooperation agreements signed between Britain and Switzerland. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson inked an accord in April to strengthen mutual cooperation in trade, finance, research and immigration.

In November it was also announced that a Swiss-British deal granting access of consultants, engineers and IT workers to each other’s markets would be extended until the end of 2025.

The same month both countries signed a deal on the mutual recognition of conformity assessments. It means that for certain business sectors, product testing by a British conformity body is no longer required for exports from Switzerland to the UK.