Switzerland’s new registry faces cyberattack fears ahead of launch

Switzerland's new corporate transparency registry will cover roughly 600,000 legal entities, about 20 times the attack surface of the database hackers breached in neighbouring Liechtenstein just five weeks ago. The government is launching it anyway.

Hackers accessed and copied data from Liechtenstein's Register of Beneficial Owners overnight on July 29-30, compromising records tied to roughly 31,000 companies, foundations and trusts.

The Swiss Association of Wealth Managers grabbed hold of the opportunity in its letter dated August 24 to the Justice Ministry, stating that "in a similar case in Switzerland this would do 'immeasurable damage to the reputation of the Swiss financial and commercial centre, without taking into account the legal consequences that will ensue".'

The proposed registry has been labelled by the association as "an extremely attractive target for cybercriminals".

Despite the warning, Switzerland confirmed on Monday it will proceed with the October 1 launch date mandated under its new federal law, saying it has built in measures to ensure the "highest possible level of protection".

The government has always maintained that a centralised register of beneficial ownership is a key necessity in fighting financial crimes and ensuring that the reputation of Switzerland as a financial centre is protected rather than ruined.

While the problematic Liechtenstein register included information on 31,000 firms, the Swiss version of the register is projected to include information on 600,000.

This isn't the first time competitiveness concerns have collided with Switzerland's anti-money laundering push.

Swiss lawmakers previously softened new money laundering curbs after industry pushback, and the wealth managers' letter suggests a similar fight is brewing over the registry's rollout, even if the government has signalled it won't delay the launch date itself.