B-18-02 FINMA Circ. 18/2

In a ruling dated 16 January 2024 (B_4185/2020), the Federal Administrative Court (FAT) upheld a FINMA decision of 19 June 2020 finding that a Swiss company and one of its directors had, as a group, engaged in unlawful securities trading, in the absence of authorisation, as an issuing house that had offered securities in the form of investment tokens to the public on a professional basis. As part of an initial coin offering (ICO) with a foreign issuer, the Swiss[...]

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court recently clarified the application of the rules on the disclosure of holdings in collective investment schemes (art. 120 ff. LIMF) in a ruling 2C_546/2020 of August 18, 2022, intended for publication. In particular, it held that the parent company of a group composed of collective investment schemes must disclose the latter's holdings on a consolidated basis. At issue in this case were two foreign-based financial services companies. The first (the controlled company), based in the[...]

Should the use of an algorithmic trading programme be considered a substitution within the meaning of Art. 398 para. 3 CO ? Does the agent violate his duty to inform if he does not regularly inform his principal about the progress of market making? The Federal Supreme Court answers both questions in the negative in its judgement 4A_305/2021. A company incorporated under Israeli law enters into a mandate agreement with a Swiss bank. Under this agreement, the bank undertakes to[...]

The Brexit, which took effect on 31 January 2021, is now having a direct impact on UK-Swiss relations in the financial sector. In addition to ongoing discussions on mutual recognition, which remain at a high level for the time being, the UK has recognised the equivalence of Swiss regulations on trading venues for the purposes of Art. 23 MiFIR (see The Markets in Financial Instruments (Switzerland Equivalence) Regulations 2021 adopted on 12 January 2021, presented to parliament on 13 January[...]