D-01-22

An asset manager who does not comply with the conservative investment strategy agreed with his client is not in breach of his contractual obligations if the client has validly approved the investments (Federal Court ruling 4A_507/2023 of 29 February 2024). In this judgment, the client consults an asset manager to manage part of his assets. Over the years, the client entered into three different management relationships with the service provider. In the third relationship, which gave rise to the dispute,[...]

This year, the general meetings of public-interest companies meeting the criteria of Art. 964a para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations will be asked to approve their reports on non-financial matters in accordance with Art. 964c para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations. In this context, a controversy has arisen over the legal nature of the vote: on the one hand, Novartis and Roche have already organised a consultative vote, while on the other, the Ethos Foundation is[...]

In its decision 4A_350/2023 of 21 November 2023, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld a partial ruling by the Zurich Handelsgericht (HG190111-O), ordering an asset manager to account to a BVG/LPP pension fund for retrocessions received in connection with investments in target funds via two funds of funds. This commentary focuses on the question of the foundation's right to information regarding the retrocessions received by the fund manager (for a description of the facts and the issue of informed approval[...]

Members of the Board of Trustees must recuse themselves from all decisions in which they have a conflict of interest. Their knowledge cannot therefore be imputed to the foundation. This is one of the conclusions reached by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in ruling 4A_350/2023 of November 21, 2023. A securities dealer (now called a securities firm, cf. art. 41 LEFin) provides asset management services for private and institutional clients. In particular, it manages the assets of a BVG pension[...]