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From the magazine SZW-RSDA 2/2019 | S. 99-113 The following page is 99

FINMA’s Enforcement in Court

An empirical and legal assessment of the court rulings regarding the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority’s financial regulation enforcement

“No judge writes on a wholly clean slate.”1

This article presents an empirical and qualitative analy­sis of the judicial review of the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority’s (FINMA) enforcement of financial market laws by the Federal Administrative Court and the Federal Supreme Court. It is part of a broader research project on global enforcement against financial institutions and their managers and employees. Based on an overview of FINMA’s enforcement, the appeal rate against FINMA decisions and the success rate of such complaints is discussed. In addition, the article analyses key areas in which the courts have supported or set limits to FINMA practices. Statements on the right to a fair trial and the scope of FINMA’s discretion are the object of a special analysis. In an overall assessment, the authors come to the conclusion that, despite FINMA’s relatively high success rate in court, there is an effective judicial control over its enforcement.

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