The Berne Financial Services Agreement

September 2025

The Berne Financial Services Agreement (BFSA), signed in December 2023 by the UK and Switzerland, is poised to enter into force on 1 January 2026. 

As well as formalising existing market access arrangements, the BFSA will enhance regulatory cooperation, and facilitate the provision of cross-border financial services to institutional and certain high net worth clients in the insurance and private banking/wealth management sectors respectively.

Since signing the BFSA, UK and Swiss authorities have been busy ironing out how it will work in practice. Given that it will be operationalised imminently, now is the ideal time for firms to consider how they can make the most of the market access opportunities it presents. 

This article explores the opportunities for the insurance and private banking/wealth management sectors, as the main beneficiaries under the agreement. However, wider banks, asset managers, financial market infrastructure firms and providers of professional services also stand to benefit.

UK insurers will get direct market access to large Swiss clients for certain lines of non-life business, while brokers are exempt from Swiss localisation requirements.

Insurers

The BFSA will allow UK non-life insurers direct market access into Switzerland for a range of wholesale risks for larger clients including renewable energy, directors' & officers' liability, sellers' and buyers' warranty, indemnity and cyber insurance — lines of business particularly important to the London Market. (Re)insurers with over 10% life business are out of scope. For Swiss insurers, the BFSA confirms and enshrines existing access under the UK-Swiss Direct Insurance Agreement. 

The BFSA commitments are based on deference, meaning that UK insurers will continue to be regulated and supervised in the UK. The BFSA also removes the requirement for `tied assets', which currently forces UK insurers to localise assets in Switzerland. The removal of this requirement will improve insurers' capital efficiency and lower barriers to entry.

Insurance intermediaries

Insurance intermediaries are also key beneficiaries from the agreement. Notably, the UK will be exempt from new Swiss requirements that took effect on 1 January 2024, which would have required overseas brokers to establish a physical presence in Switzerland. Insurance intermediaries will continue to be regulated under Swiss law and there are no notification requirements.

The BFSA will allow firms to provide investment services to certain, newly defined high net worth clients on a cross-border basis without barriers. For this, market access procedures have been defined, and the new client category and disclosure requirements have been outlined:

• High net worth clients: The change that is likely to have the most significant impact for the sector, particularly given the existing substantial cross-border books of clients, is that both Swiss and UK firms will be able to access high net worth customers in the other jurisdiction who have more than GBP/CHF 2 million in net assets under certain conditions.
• Disclosures and notification requirements: When using this new access mechanism, firms will need to provide clients with pre-contractual disclosure documents.
• Swiss adviser register: Based on the agreement, UK advisers will no longer need to be registered by Swiss bodies, but they will still need to fulfil certain Swiss requirements (i.e. have professional indemnity insurance cover).

Firms will need to take preparatory steps to enter the BFSA regime. There are a mixture of immediate steps and opportunities for medium-term strategic gains firms can consider:

Immediate ‘no regrets’ actions

• Expresssion of interest: To be lodged on FCA/FINMA website, followed by regulatory notification once registration opens.
• Sizing up the market: Identify in-scope lines of business and assess your in-scope target market.

Short-term preparatory steps

• Prepare pre-contractual disclosure materials: Understand the requirements and how and where they align with the existing disclosure production approach.
• Ongoing compliance: Once the regulatory operational guidance is published, consider whether any further steps are needed for ongoing compliance and reporting.
• Marketing and distribution controls: Educate and upskill sales and marketing client-facing teams on the new framework.
• Client categorisation approach (for private banks and wealth managers): Update the existing categorisation framework to accommodate the new HNW client category, and make associated changes to the CRM system and related applications.
• Skillset stocktake: Consider if there is sufficient market and/or regulatory knowledge to successfully make the most of opportunities under the BFSA.

Medium-term strategic opportunities

• Strategic partnerships: Examine opportunities for new distribution channels and other strategic partnerships. 
• Product development and innovation: Revisit the existing range of products and services provided and consider where they could be enhanced to meet customer needs.
• Legal entity arrangements: Future-state legal entity and branch structure analysis, in light of new possibilities (potential rationalisation of current arrangements).
• Pre-contractual disclosure production: Consider if any enhancements are needed to the operating model to more efficiently deliver on the new client-facing disclosure requirements.
• People: Further analysis on the preferred location for management, advisers and distribution teams, and relevant individuals in the second and third lines of defence. Implement more precise agreement on ‘ways of working’ between the UK and Swiss teams.

Colleagues across KPMG in the UK and KPMG in Switzerland would be happy to discuss how we can support you with these next steps — please see contacts below.

As the Berne Agreement prepares to come into force, firms operating between the UK and Switzerland have a unique opportunity to take advantage of the cross-border market access to support their growth and strategic objectives with limited additional regulatory footprint — and without the uncertainty of unilateral equivalence decisions.

In a world facing increased regulatory fragmentation, the UK–Swiss model is a positive and pragmatic model to support the growth and international competitiveness of both countries’ financial services sectors and to give consumers greater choice.

Ahead of January 2026, firms should remain alert to regulators’ updates — such as the FCA’s evolving webpage here.