Advertising financial products in Switzerland: what FinSA (FIDLEG) requires

Anyone advertising a bond, an equity offer or another financial instrument in Switzerland operates within a legal framework of its own. Switzerland is not part of the EU, and the Financial Services Act (FinSA, known in German as FIDLEG) regulates advertising differently from the EU Prospectus Regulation. This article explains what that means for campaigns on Meta, Google and LinkedIn, including for international providers targeting Swiss investors. The basics are described in our guide winning investors digitally.

Important first: this article is general information (as of October 2026) and not legal advice. Check the provisions in the original text and have every ad approved by your legal adviser before launch.

In short

In Switzerland, FinSA governs advertising for financial instruments. Advertising must be recognisable as such, refer to the prospectus and key information document and where to obtain them, and be consistent with these documents. For campaigns, this means a dedicated Swiss landing page with all mandatory information, a documented approval process and tracking in line with the revised Data Protection Act (revFADP).

FinSA (Financial Services Act, SR 950.1) is the Swiss federal act that has governed the provision of financial services and the offering of financial instruments since 2020, including the prospectus requirement, the key information document and advertising.

What FinSA means by advertising

Advertising within the meaning of FinSA is any communication aimed at investors that is intended to draw attention to particular financial services or financial instruments. That covers classic ads as well as social media posts, videos, newsletters, landing pages and sponsored articles.

The central requirements are set out in Art. 68 FinSA:

1. Recognisability: advertising must be recognisable as such.
2. Reference to documents: advertising must refer to the prospectus and the key information document for the advertised financial instrument and state where they can be obtained.
3. Consistency: advertising and other information intended for investors must be consistent with the information in the prospectus and key information document.

On top of this comes the general law against unfair competition: advertising must not be misleading. And for us, the same principle applies in every country: no promises of returns.

Reference to the prospectus and key information document

The reference to the prospectus and key information document is where campaigns most often fail in practice. A prospectus is the comprehensive information document for a public offer of securities, such as bonds or shares. A key information document is a short, standardised document that explains the main characteristics, risks and costs of a financial instrument to retail clients.

Whether your offer needs a prospectus and a key information document depends on the type of instrument, the target group and the exemptions in FinSA. If they are needed, the advertising must refer to them.

For implementation in campaigns, this approach has proven itself:

Whether a reference on the landing page alone is enough in the individual case, or whether it has to be in the ad itself, is something to clarify with your legal adviser. For very short formats, a wording such as "Advertisement. Prospectus and key information document at example.ch" is a common solution.

Differences from Austria and the EU

Austria and Germany follow the EU Prospectus Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 for securities prospectuses, Switzerland follows FinSA. The basic idea is similar, the details and authorities differ.

In practice, this means: a campaign that is clean in Austria is not automatically clean in Switzerland. Documents, notices and data protection texts have to be checked for the Swiss market and usually adapted. The Austrian side of the rules is described in the article advertising financial products.

revFADP when tracking investor leads

The revised Data Protection Act (revFADP, in German revDSG) has applied in Switzerland since 1 September 2023 and governs the processing of personal data, including when tracking websites and leads. Investor leads are particularly sensitive, because they can contain information about assets and investment intentions.

What this means for campaigns:

• Transparency: the privacy policy describes which data is collected, to whom it is passed on and where it is transferred, for example to ad platforms in the US.
• Data minimisation: in the form, only ask for what is needed for contact and qualification.
• Tracking with consent: we only use tracking pixels after consent, in line with the revFADP and the GDPR. That also makes sense because many Swiss websites have visitors from the EU.
• Feeding back conversions: anyone reporting subscriptions back to Meta or Google needs a sound legal basis for this and a notice in the privacy policy.

More on tracking in Switzerland in the article marketing tracking in Switzerland and the revFADP.

Meta and Google in Switzerland

Meta and Google also apply their policies for financial products in Switzerland, in addition to Swiss law. Meta has financial products as a special ad category with restricted targeting and reviews investment ads more closely. Google requires verification as a financial services provider in a growing number of countries. Whether Switzerland is affected and which evidence is needed is set out in Google's current financial services policy.

For Swiss campaigns, we also pay attention to these points:

1. Language and spelling: Swiss German spelling (ss instead of ß), and French and Italian where needed.
2. Currency: amounts in Swiss francs if the offer is in francs.
3. Separate campaigns for Switzerland: instead of one DACH campaign, so that notices, landing pages and measurement are right.
4. LinkedIn for decision-makers: in Switzerland often an important channel for affluent professionals and entrepreneurs.
5. Patience with reviews: plan for rejected ads and prepare variants.

Checklist for campaigns

These points should be done before a financial campaign in Switzerland goes live:

• ☐ Legal classification of the offer in Switzerland clarified (prospectus, key information document, exemptions)
• ☐ Prospectus and key information document published, place to obtain them defined
• ☐ Dedicated Swiss landing page with a reference to both documents and a risk warning
• ☐ All advertising claims checked against the documents
• ☐ Advertising labelled as such, in videos and sponsored posts too
• ☐ No promises of returns
• ☐ Privacy policy in line with the revFADP, tracking only with consent
• ☐ Google and Meta platform requirements checked
• ☐ Approval of every ad documented, following the four-eyes principle
• ☐ Subscriptions traceable back to the campaign

Common mistakes in Swiss financial campaigns

Most mistakes happen when a campaign from Austria or Germany is simply extended to Switzerland. These are the ones we see most often:

1. One DACH campaign for everyone. Notices and landing page fit the EU legal situation, not FinSA.
2. Missing reference to the key information document. The prospectus is linked, the key information document is not, or the place to obtain it is missing.
3. German spelling. The ß, euro amounts and German terms feel foreign in Switzerland and lower trust.
4. Data protection texts only under the GDPR. The privacy policy does not mention the revFADP or describes the transfer to ad platforms imprecisely.
5. Approval only for the main version. Translated or shortened variants run without their own review.

ad.boutique in Zurich and Vienna

ad.boutique works from Zurich and Vienna. As a performance marketing agency in Zurich, we look after companies across Switzerland, in finance with the same building blocks as in Austria: issuance landing page, explainer video, lead CRM with a subscription dashboard in the boutique.OS live dashboard, and no ad without your approval.

Our published finance cases come from Austria, such as a real estate investment and a crowdinvesting platform. We only mention them here as an example of the process, not as Swiss results: the legal situation and the market in Switzerland are different, and numbers cannot be transferred. More about our approach for issuers under financial marketing for issuers.

Note: not legal advice

This article is general information as of October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not replace a review in the individual case. You can find legal texts on Fedlex, information from the regulator at FINMA and the advertising rules directly at Google and Meta. For advertising financial instruments in Switzerland, we recommend working with a lawyer experienced in financial market law.