# VSB 20 Art. 66 — Supervisory commission - **Rubric (DE):** Aufsichtskommission - **Rubric (EN):** Supervisory commission - **Chapter:** 8. Kapitel — Prüf- und Verfahrensbestimmungen (3. Abschnitt: Organisation) - **Scope:** Banks & securities firms (incorporated via [[GwV-FINMA Art. 35 - Identification, controlling person and beneficial|GwV-FINMA Art. 35]]) - **Status:** In force (since 1 January 2020) ## Description Abs. 1: for investigating and sanctioning violations of these rules of conduct under Art. 61, the SBA (*SBVg*) sets up a supervisory commission (*Aufsichtskommission*) of at least five persons; the majority of its members must be independent. Abs. 2: the commission elects one or more secretaries and regulates their tasks. Abs. 3: the term of office is five years, which the SBA's board of directors (*Verwaltungsrat*) may extend by one year; re-election is permitted. Only persons who have not yet reached the age of 70 are eligible as members and secretaries; if the age of 70 is reached during a term, that term may be completed. Abs. 4: as agents (*Beauftragte*) within the meaning of Art. 47 BankG, members and secretaries must maintain strict confidentiality about facts that became known to them in the investigation and sanction proceedings; the bank cannot invoke banking secrecy vis-à-vis the commission. Abs. 5: the commission periodically informs the banks and the public about its decision practice, preserving banking and business secrecy. Abs. 6: in agreement with the SBA's board of directors, the commission may issue interpretations of the rules of conduct for the banks; banks address such requests to the SBA. ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary states that, under Abs. 1, only the majority of the members must be independent, so persons actively working in the banking industry can also be elected. According to the commentary, independence is not given if the person works for a Swiss bank or Swiss securities firm (*Effektenhändler*) as employee or mandatary or holds an organ function; such a member must recuse (*in den Ausstand treten*) when the commission deals with a case concerning that institution, with details set out in the commission's regulations (*Reglement*). It states that the Abs. 3 age limit is retained to ensure periodic renewal of the supervisory bodies. ## FATF - None directly. ## Swiss counterparts - None in this map. ## Related VSB articles - [[VSB 20 Art. 61 - Sanctions procedure|VSB 20 Art. 61]] — referred to in the article text ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 66 - SBVg Kommentar zur VSB 20 (2020), Art. 66