B-08-21 FINMA Circ. 08/21

The Federal Supreme Court has upheld a ruling by the Geneva Court of Appeal dismissing a liability claim against a bank for mismanagement on the grounds that the allegations were insufficient (ruling 4A_276/2024 of 31 March 2025). The client had held a bank account with the bank in question since the 1960s. In 1995, she inherited EUR 3 million and entered into a management agreement with the bank. At that time, the client's portfolio consisted solely of bonds and cash.[...]

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[...]

Since the adoption of the too-big-to-fail regime in 2011, article 52 BL stipulates that the Federal Council must examine the provisions of articles 7 to 14b BL three years after the system comes into force and then every two years, compare them with the corresponding international standards abroad and report back to the Federal Assembly, if necessary with proposals for amendments to the law or ordinances. In its report on systemically important banks of 4 June 2021 (FF 2021 1487),[...]

In a ruling dated March 30, 2023 (B-4004_2021), the Federal Administrative Court (FAT) found that the additional capital requirements imposed by FINMA on PostFinance SA (PostFinance) on the basis of art. 131b cum 45 let. b of the Capital Adequacy Ordinance (CAO) and its practice set out in FINMA Circular 2019/2 "Interest rate risks - banks" (the Circular) to address the risk of rising interest rates were in accordance with the law. This ruling follows a previous decision by the[...]