With the last version of 6 November 2019, the Swiss Federal Council finally enacted the Financial Services Act (FinSA) and the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) which will come into effect on 1 January 2020. This not only achieved the equivalence of Swiss law with MiFID II / MiFIR, but also finally completed a long regulatory process that began in the last financial crisis of 2008.
Whilst FinSA regulates the provision of financial services and financial instruments, FinIA introduces supervisory rules for financial institutions. For the first time these rules also apply to professional* trusteeswho have not previously been subject to any regulation.
Trustees domiciled or resident in Switzerland must therefore meet all the organisational, financial and personalrequirements of the FinIA, which can be summarised as follows:
Summary
Corporate trustees will have to comply with a large number of regulatory obligations and requirements from 1 January 2020 (or, after expiry of the transitional period, from 1 January 2023). These requirements are particularly important for individuals or companies that only occasionally act as trustees. But even smaller subsidiaries, which to date have operated under the umbrella of a (foreign) regulated parent company and have benefited from numerous outsourcing options, are now burdened with considerable additional administrative and financial work, without this improving their actual activity as a trustee.
Alternative options from CAREY
For those financial service providers who do not want their own licensing for operational or financial reasons, CAREY has developed various solutions that could be considered as viable alternatives. These range from a management solution via a platform variant to an asset / equity participation.
| Mmgt Option(s) | Platform Option(s) | Asset / Equity Option(s) |
| Today’s trustee will concentrate on acting as protector or advisory trustee. CAREY will become corporate trustee. | As a corporate trustee, CAREY assumes all technical (risk, compliance & reporting) and administrative tasks of a trustee. The previous trustee or the controlling party of the trustee can individually support this process as a CAREY employee or consultant. |
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As an experienced corporate trustee with a strong focus on individual needs, we would be delighted to actively support you in coping with these innovations and to develop the best possible options for you.
Beat Haering
Carey AG – because we care.
Alderstrasse 49, 8008 Zürich
+41 43 499 11 44