A-08-10 AOO

A recent Geneva ruling illustrates the effects of a residual bank agreement combined with a claims clause when the existence of a client instruction is disputed by the parties in a one-off investment advisory relationship (ruling ACJC/231/2024 of the Civil Division of the Geneva Court of Justice of 13 February 2024). In 2003, a company based in the British Virgin Islands opened a relationship with a Swiss bank. The bank's general terms and conditions provided to the client contained a[...]

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),[...]

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[...]