Compliance / By country / FINMA 2018/3

FINMA Circular 2018/3 (Outsourcing) and Microsoft 365

Swiss financial-sector outsourcing and access-control oversight. Siemserva by Senserva maps 197+ Microsoft 365 and Entra ID checks to the areas FINMA 2018/3 emphasizes, so a scan of your tenant doubles as evidence.

SwitzerlandFinancial sector197+ mapped checks

What FINMA 2018/3 is

FINMA Circular 2018/3 sets outsourcing and oversight expectations for Swiss banks and insurers, including access control over outsourced and cloud services. For firms running Microsoft 365, that means demonstrable control over identity, privileged access, and logging.

Official reference: FINMA Circular 2018/3 (Outsourcing)

How Siemserva maps to FINMA 2018/3

FINMA 2018/3 asks for strong identity, access control, and monitoring. Siemserva evidences those areas with the checks below, each ranked by Severity and checked against your own tenant:

Identity and access management (60 checks)
At Risk With High Risk User Break Glass Account Disabled User Break Glass Account Is Not Highly Privileged User Break Glass Account Last Password Change User Break Glass User Not Enabled User High Risk User
Privileged access (PIM) (34 checks)
PIM Alerts No MFA On Activation Alert PIM Policy Expiration Required PIM Policy Missing For User Role Ai Administrator Assigned Role Standing High Privilege Assignment PIM Alerts License Suspended
Conditional Access (60 checks)
Conditional Access Admin Portal Missing MFA Conditional Access Break Glass Account Covered By Policy Conditional Access Group Critical Coverage Gap Conditional Access MFA Policy Bypassed Conditional Access User Critical Coverage Gap Conditional Access Block Legacy Exchange Active Sync Not Found
Logging and audit (43 checks)
Log Blocked Signin Bad IP Or Too Many Invalid Attempts Log Flagged For Review Log Legacy Auth Protocol Audit CA Change Audit CA Failed Conditional Access Change Audit Failed Authorization Change

See every check with its Severity and remediation in the checks catalog, or the per-control detail in the control reference.

FINMA 2018/3 and Microsoft 365: common questions

Does FINMA 2018/3 apply to Microsoft 365?

FINMA Circular 2018/3 (Outsourcing) does not name Microsoft 365 specifically, but its identity, access-control, and logging requirements are met (or missed) in your Microsoft 365 and Entra ID configuration. That is where Siemserva checks provide the evidence.

How does Siemserva map to FINMA 2018/3?

Siemserva runs 197+ Microsoft 365 and Entra ID checks across the areas FINMA 2018/3 emphasizes, multi-factor authentication, Conditional Access, privileged access, and logging, ranks the gaps by Severity, and produces audit-ready evidence. It is evidence, not an official mapping or certification.

Is this an official FINMA 2018/3 certification?

No. Senserva is not an assessor and issues no certifications. It provides the configuration evidence, Severity ranking, and remediation that make an assessment defensible. Confirm requirements with your assessor or regulator.

More: the frameworks crosswalk, Microsoft 365 compliance by country, and the audit evidence guide.

FINMA Circular 2018/3 (Outsourcing) and Microsoft 365

What FINMA 2018/3 is

How Siemserva maps to FINMA 2018/3

Identity and access management (60 checks)

Privileged access (PIM) (34 checks)

Conditional Access (60 checks)

Logging and audit (43 checks)

FINMA 2018/3 and Microsoft 365: common questions