Switzerland's infrastructure financing,
finally at market rates.
CivicBond connects Swiss municipalities with institutional investors through a transparent, FINMA-compliant digital auction — resolving the 10/20 Non-Bank rule automatically.
CHF 4–6bn
Annual Swiss municipal financing market
Taxpayer money priced without competition
35%
Withholding tax triggered by the 10/20 rule
The rule that locks institutional investors out
0.10–0.30%
Interest rate saving per CivicBond auction
vs. bilateral bank loan — returned to taxpayers
The Problem
Institutional capital cannot reach Swiss municipalities — at any scale
- Small municipalities rely on bilateral bank loans with zero price competition
- No standardised risk taxonomy — every deal is bespoke and opaque
- No digital thread from credit rating to loan settlement
- The 10/20 rule triggers 35% withholding tax above 10 non-bank lenders
- Forces municipalities back into bank arms — the very intermediaries they want to bypass
- Pension funds cannot legally participate in direct municipal lending at scale
- Taxpayers overpay CHF tens of thousands per project in excess interest
- Pension funds are deprived of their ideal asset class: safe, local, long-duration
- Banks capture the spread — a conflict of interest baked into the system
The Solution
CivicBond automates what banks won't build.
Transparent Price Discovery
A digital auction replaces bilateral bank negotiations — municipalities get competitive rates, investors get fair access.
Automatic Tax Compliance
Every loan is securitised before listing — resolving the 10/20 Non-Bank rule automatically on every single deal.
Neutral Ecosystem
Independent rating agencies, legal-tech partners, and custodian banks operate under one rulebook — no single bank controls the outcome.
The Process
From credit rating to funded — in weeks, not months.
Rate
Municipality submits project details and receives an independent credit rating
List
CivicBond lists the standardised, securitised instrument on the auction platform
Auction
Institutional investors bid simultaneously — competitive price discovery in real time
Settle
Funds disbursed, documentation automated, 10/20 rule resolved automatically
CivicBond serves every side of the market
For Municipalities
Access wholesale market rates. Save taxpayer money. Finance your infrastructure projects without bank monopoly pricing.
- Average 0.10–0.30% lower interest than your current bank
- Transparent, competitive auctions — not bilateral relationships
- FINMA-compliant from listing to settlement
For Institutional Investors
Access Swiss municipal debt — the safest asset class in the country. Finally, at institutional scale and without withholding tax.
- Long-duration, low-risk, locally rooted Swiss infrastructure assets
- 10/20 Non-Bank rule resolved — participate with any AUM allocation
- Professional-grade credit ratings on every instrument
The Ecosystem
A neutral orchestrator at the centre of Swiss infrastructure finance
CivicBond is built as an open ecosystem — not a single firm. Following Jacobides (2019), CivicBond orchestrates complementary partners (rating, legal-tech, custody) under a neutral rulebook, ensuring no single bank or institution controls outcomes.
Backed by Swiss financial infrastructure
Ready to bring competition to Swiss municipal financing?
Join our pilot programme — no platform fee for the first 5 municipalities.