Switzerland

Switzerland is a non-EU OECD jurisdiction whose official export credit agency is Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV). For bank export finance and project finance desks, the Switzerland country profile centres on SERV cover for Swiss export transactions, Arrangement participation, FATF-list geography and a federal company search portal above the cantonal commercial registers.

Official export credit support in Switzerland

SERV states that it supports Swiss companies with insurance and guarantees for export transactions, promotes the international competitiveness of the Swiss export industry and helps preserve and create jobs in Switzerland. Cover can run from the production phase to payment of the final instalment for consumer goods, services and capital goods. SERV also publishes product paths for financial institutions, described as enabling low-cost export financing for Swiss clients, and tailored insurance solutions for project financing.

The Berne Union member profile describes SERV as an institution of the Swiss Confederation under public law that extends insurance to Swiss exporters from all industries and to financial institutions, insuring services such as construction and engineering projects and licence and know-how agreements in addition to goods, with activities focused on areas of the credit insurance market that private insurers do not serve or serve only to a limited degree.

Official Swiss support is therefore primarily insurance and guarantee capacity rather than a universal export-import bank balance sheet. Banks treating SERV as cover provider still underwrite the obligor, the structure and host country risk independently; SERV cover policy, country classifications and general terms as published by SERV govern availability and pricing for a given buyer jurisdiction.

OECD Arrangement posture

EXIM has published that the Participants to the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits include Switzerland, alongside the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. Medium and long term official Swiss support is therefore framed by Arrangement disciplines, including minimum premium rules, where those rules apply.

FATF and sanctions list posture

Switzerland is a FATF member. Membership denotes participation in AML and counter-terrorist financing standard setting; evaluation outcomes are published by FATF separately. Switzerland does not appear on the FATF increased monitoring or call for action lists as reproduced in HM Treasury's June 2026 Money Laundering Advisory Notice. Presence or absence on those lists is an AML peer-review outcome, not a sanctions designation.

Swiss, EU, UK or UN sanctions measures may still designate persons or entities with a Swiss nexus. Desk sanctions screening remains list-based against the regimes that apply to the booking entity and the transaction parties; FATF geography and sanctions screening are parallel controls, not substitutes.

Company and beneficial ownership registers

The Swiss Confederation publishes Zefix as an online search portal for Swiss registered entities; the cantonal commercial registers remain the underlying registers of legal entities. Exact public-access rules for beneficial ownership transparency filings, including any legitimate-interest gate, are recorded as an open item pending primary confirmation from official Swiss pages. Know-your-business checks on Swiss counterparties therefore combine commercial register extracts with beneficial ownership evidence obtained under the bank's AML programme and Swiss law. Host country risk for SERV-covered structures, including political risk insurance style perils, is priced under SERV's published product terms.