B-16-03 FINMA Circ. 16/3

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[...]