Collection

In its decision 4A_433/2025 of May 27, 2026, the Federal Court dismissed the appeal of a liability insurer that had refused to pay benefits under a policy structured according to the loss-occurrence principle. This mechanism links the claim to the time when the damage becomes apparent, rather than to the date of the underlying event. The insured, a manufacturer of aluminum composite panels used for facade cladding, had been covered by the appellant’s liability insurance for several years. The insurance[...]

Convictions for failure to exercise due diligence in financial transactions under Art. 305ter of the Swiss Criminal Code are rare; Federal Supreme Court rulings on the matter are even rarer. The landmark decision of April 13, 2026, addresses two points: 1) the scope of administrative and private anti-money laundering standards in determining the level of due diligence required by the circumstances when identifying the beneficial owner; 2) the question of whether the incorrect identification of the beneficial owner is an[...]

Beyond the ongoing standoff between UBS and the Federal Council, particularly regarding the tightening of capital requirements, UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse has also had implications under criminal law. In an order dated 8 April 2026 (SK.2025.57), the Criminal Division of the Federal Criminal Court examined the consequences, in terms of corporate criminal liability, of a merger by absorption (Art. 3 para. 1 let. a FusG) on the acquiring company. It ordered the proceedings against UBS to be discontinued, finding[...]

Whilst we have repeatedly highlighted the lack of detail in the summaries of the Banking Supervision Commission’s (hereinafter: the Commission) ‘leading cases’, it must be acknowledged that the latest publication raises a number of interesting and rarely addressed issues. Among these, we note first and foremost a clarification regarding the scope of application of the Bank Due Diligence Convention (hereinafter: the BDC or the Convention) in relation to credit card transactions. Recalling first of all that the CDB 20 applies[...]