A-07-21 OFA-FINMA

On 15 May 2025, the Federal Court published a ruling of principle (TF 5A_440/2024 of 31 March 2025) clarifying the following question: Are loans granted by related parties to a company without an explicit subordination agreement subordinated in the event of the company's bankruptcy? The Federal Supreme Court confirmed that claims arising from such loans must, in principle, be treated as ordinary third-class claims in the event of bankruptcy (Art. 219 para. 4 LP). However, only in exceptional cases characterised[...]

When several clients are harmed in the same case of fraud, an important question arises in insurance: is this a single claim or several claims? In its ruling 4A_626/2024 of 21 March 2025, the Federal Court answered in the affirmative. It upheld an arbitration award that denied a bank any insurance coverage on the grounds that each claim by an aggrieved customer had to be considered a separate claim, subject in particular to a separate deductible. The ruling highlights the[...]

Was FINMA, and subsequently the Federal Administrative Court, right to refuse dividend payments by an insurance company in connection with the approval of a liquidation plan and a modified business plan on the grounds that the company had failed to comply with its obligation to cooperate with the supervisory authority? This is the question that the Federal Supreme Court had to answer in a ruling handed down on 18 February (2C_94/2024). The case in question concerns an insurance company that[...]

In a recent judgement, the Federal Court rejected a bank's appeal against a judgement of the Vaud Cantonal Court refusing to order the seizure of real estate belonging to the debtor's ex-wife (judgement 5A_754/2024 of 18 February 2025). Although the judgement in question mainly concerns matters of enforcement, in particular in relation to the degree of likelihood that the creditor must achieve in order to obtain a sequestration, this case is a telling example of the difficulties that a creditor[...]