EU document suggests trouble for Swiss access to European finance markets

An EU document seen by Swiss public television, SRF, suggests that Brussels may be planning to place a conditional limit of one year on the ‘equivalence’ of the Swiss and European stock exchanges – an essential measure for Swiss financial trading. The internal document, also seen by Swiss news agency ATS, reveals that the financial equivalence mechanism for Switzerland, which allows for cross-border trading on equal terms, was approved by the EU countries, but with a conditional limit of one year. If nothing changes, the implication would be that the Swiss stock exchange would lose the equivalence with its European counterpart on December 31, 2018. Other countries, including Hong Kong and the US, have received the recognition for an unlimited period, something the Swiss were said to have also expected to fall to them. + Explore in detail our in-depth coverage of Swiss-EU relations Contacted by ATS, the EU Commission in Brussels declined to comment on the time limit. The ...