A-08-01 AOA

A protective criminal sequestration order may appear disproportionate when the proceedings in which it is involved drag on without sufficient grounds. Decision 7B_366/2023 of 14 February 2024 provides a rare illustration of the application of this principle by the Federal Supreme Court. The Federal Court lifted the sequestration orders issued in February 2018 on bank assets, as the Geneva public prosecutor had decided, but contrary to the decision of the cantonal court of second instance. In February 2018, an oil[...]

A bank that wishes to obtain a receivership against its clients in order to recover an overdraft resulting from an unsuccessful margin call and a liquidation of positions must make its claim plausible by means of detailed explanations and documents. Failing this, the judge must refuse - or revoke - the receivership (Federal Court ruling 5A_515/2023 of 23 February 2024). The dispute that gave rise to this judgment arose from a lombard loan granted by a Zurich bank to two[...]

The right of access under the DPA is abused when a person invokes it against a family office to obtain information concerning a trust and the financial situation of his father (ACJC/1610/2023). A very wealthy Italian businessman has a family office in Geneva, which performs various services for his daughter. Payments to her were made from the father's account. The father tells the family office that his daughter has a budget limit of EUR 100,000 per month. The daughter receives[...]

According to a popular German expression, "Totgesagte leben länger. Despite their oft-heralded demise, retrocessions continue to enrich the civil case law of the Federal Supreme Court. However, practitioners are still waiting for the Federal Supreme Court to take a definitive stance on whether retrocessions in execution-only relationships should be subject to restitution. Unfortunately, these hopes were dashed in the ruling presented here (TF 4A_496/2023 of 27 February 2024): "Damit braucht auf die umstrittene Frage, ob grundsätzlich auch im Execution only-Verhältnis[...]