Klagen gegen Finanzdienstleister im FIDLEG-Entwurf – ­eine kritische Würdigung

The draft Swiss Financial Services Act («Finanzdienst­leistungsgesetz»/«FIDLEG») aims at the improvement of customer protection. To that end, it also contains procedural rules that shall facilitate lawsuits of custo­mers. Customers do not have to advance court fees nor have to deposit a security for the counterparty’s costs. In certain situations, a customer is relieved from paying any litigation costs (court costs and counterparty’s costs) even if he or she loses the lawsuit. Instead, the costs can be imposed on the prevailing financial services provider. Besides these provisions, the FIDLEG proposes a new ombudsman procedure as an alternative to the ordinary conciliation procedure. Finally, the FIDLEG confers upon customers a new claim for the release of documents to allow him or her to better assess the chances of a potential lawsuit.

The authors critically review these provisions. A comparison with the situation de lege lata shows that the proposed rules regarding…