Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has revised its rules for opening financial accounts remotely so that banks and other financial intermediaries can use the country’s forthcoming state electronic identity, the E-ID, to identify new clients. The changes to Circular 2016/7 on video and online identification take effect on November 1, 2026.
The circular sets out how institutions covered by Switzerland’s Anti-Money Laundering Act can meet their due diligence obligations when onboarding clients through digital channels. FINMA said the partial revision reflects the new Federal Act on Electronic Identity and Other Electronic Credentials and the introduction of the E-ID, which Swiss voters narrowly approved in a 2025 referendum.
A new section of the circular covers online identification with an E-ID. Institutions must check that the credential presented was issued to the person opening the account and is valid, verify the person’s residential address, confirm through liveness detection that the identification request comes from that person, and document the process. The federal government has set December 1, 2026 as the launch date for the E-ID, which will be optional, free of charge and issued through the federal Swiyu wallet app. Under anti-money laundering rules, an E-ID now counts as a valid identification document for digital onboarding.
FINMA also put identification documents carrying a QR code, such as the Swiss driving licence, on the same footing as documents with a machine-readable zone. Video and online identification processes can now read and decrypt information from either the MRZ or the QR code and compare it with the rest of the document and the data the client provides.
Several changes came from a public consultation. Liveness detection, which checks that a real person is present rather than a photo, video or synthetic image, becomes an additional security requirement for online identification. FINMA said the change responds to growing risks from new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. The revision also allows digital processes that reliably link a client and the client’s infrastructure to a place of residence to be used for address verification, alongside utility bills, postal delivery and registers.
Institutions get a one-year transition period to make technical adjustments to residence checks and liveness detection where they identify clients online using a qualified electronic signature.
Sources: FINMA
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
