A-07-02 LSA

The Federal Administrative Court (FAT) has confirmed that comparis.ch AG (Comparis) qualifies as an insurance intermediary within the meaning of Art. 40 para. 1 ISA on the basis of the services it offers and must therefore be entered in FINMA's public register of unrelated intermediaries (ruling B-5886/2023 of 5 July 2024). In September 2023, FINMA decided that Comparis was an insurance intermediary within the meaning of Art. 40 ISA and ordered it to be entered in the register of non-related[...]

In a recent ruling, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld an insurance company's refusal to cover losses of more than 35 million dollars suffered by a Swiss bank forced to compensate unhappy investors at the end of legal proceedings in Dubai (ruling 4A_440/2022 of 16 November 2023). A bank established in Switzerland has a subsidiary in Dubai, company E. The subsidiary is subject to supervision by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and is authorised to provide certain financial services,[...]

How can an insurer object to having to compensate a listed company for damage estimated at nearly a million following a successful cyber attack? On the grounds that the payment would contravene US sanctions, since the cyberattack was allegedly the work of Russian hackers under sanctions. However, the Zurich Handelsgericht and then the Swiss Federal Supreme Court were not convinced by this argument (4A_206/2023). In July 2020, a company listed on the NYSE fell victim to an attack by the[...]

In a recent judgement concerning the interpretation of an insurance contract, the Federal Court was required to determine the extent of the insured risk in light of the concepts of ‘primary limitation’ and ‘secondary limitation of risk’ (TF 4A_72/2021 of 28 September 2021). A Swiss holding company provides financial services through its subsidiaries, including a US subsidiary. In order to protect itself against the civil liability risks associated with its commercial activity, the holding company has taken out civil liability[...]