Admission Criteria

The admission criteria compose all business-related requirements to join the trusted bLink platform and its community on top of the technical onboarding, i.e. your API integration. They are divided into general and technical criteria. Proof that these requirements are being fulfilled by a platform applicant needs to be provided to SIX within the context of the mandatory admission test in order to get accredited access to the bLink platform.

The quantity and substance of the admission criteria thereby depend on multiple factors that you’ll pre-define in the beginning of the admission test:

• Role: Do you act as a Service Provider and/or a Service User on the platform? Find out more about the role concept on bLink in the chapter What's bLink.
• API security level: The APIs on bLink require different security levels based on their read or write functionality. You can read into which API equals which security level in the Annexes 2 of our platform contract for Accounts & Payments and OpenWealth.
• Consent management solution: There are different ways to technically handle customer consent for data exchange: Consent Management 2.0 or Consent Management 2.0 with Consent-as-a-Service (CaaS) by SIX. For more details about which solution to choose, please visit the chapter Consent Flow & Management. In summary, CaaS allows the Service User to rely on the security expertise of SIX to cover specific admission criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to connect to the bLink platform. As CaaS is a service provided by SIX independently from bLink, it includes a separate contract, in which you can also check out which admission criteria SIX is covering on behalf of you with CaaS.
• FINMA license: Holders of a Swiss banking license issued by FINMA complete a reduced admission test, as many of the requirements are already covered by FINMA regulations.

Upon completion of the admission test, the information and supporting documents you provide will undergo a thorough initial review by the bLink team. Following the initial approval, participants are required to annually reaffirm their compliance with these criteria through a simplified re-admission process. In this context, they must notify SIX of any changes within a specified timeframe to ensure continued alignment with platform standards.

To begin your own onboarding journey, check out our guide Your Path to bLink for a comprehensive overview of how to connect to the platform or feel free contact us directly.