The Swiss Federal Department of Finance announced today that the web site of the Money Laundering Control Authority (MLCA) is now available in English. It covers all legal and regulatory principles concerning supervision in combating money laundering and the practices of Authority.
In Switzerland, responsibility for supervising the financial sector in terms of preventive measures against money laundering is shared by the following authorities:
– the Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC)
– the Federal Office for Private Insurance (FOPI)
– the Swiss Federal Gaming Board (SFGB) and
– the Money Laundering Control Authority (MLCA)
The MLCA supervises the so-called non-banking, non-insurance sector (e.g. asset management agencies, fiduciaries, bureaux de change), either indirectly (through self-regulating organisations SROs) or directly. This direct supervision covers the remaining financial intermediaries that are neither supervised by an authority established by way of a special law nor affiliated to an SRO.
The MLCA is part of the Federal Finance Administration (FFA) and operates separately from the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) also created through the MLA. Its activities are preventive, i.e. aimed at combating money laundering through ensuring due diligence in the non-banking non-insurance sector.