Suchergebnisse für Vertragsschluss

Berücksichtigung von ESG-Präferenzen im Finanzdienstleistungs­geschäft

On 1 January 2023, the Swiss Bankers Association’s «Guidelines for the financial service providers on the integration of ESG-preferences and ESG-risks into investment advice and portfolio management» entered into force. This marks the first binding Swiss (self-)regulation on Sustainable Finance at the point of sale. One of the key amendments includes the financial service providers’ duty to…

Zur Genehmigungsfiktion in Banken-AGB – eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der bundesgerichtlichen Rechtsprechung

In practice, the fiction of consent has become a veritable all-purpose weapon of banks and other financial service providers. In disputes with their clients banks regularly argue that the client has…

Schiedsklauseln in den Statuten von Schweizer Aktiengesellschaften und GmbH

The Swiss legislator clarified that the articles of associations of Swiss companies limited by shares and limited liability companies may include arbitration clauses. This note first discusses issues such as arbitrability, validity and scope of statutory arbitration clauses, i.e., issues arising in the context of arbitration clauses and arbitration agreements alike. It then discusses an issue…

Berücksichtigung von ESG-Präferenzen im Finanzdienstleistungs­geschäft

On 1 January 2023, the Swiss Bankers Association’s «Guidelines for the financial service providers on the integration of ESG-preferences and ESG-risks into investment advice and portfolio management» entered into force. This marks the first binding Swiss (self-)regulation on Sustainable Finance at the point of sale. One of the key amendments includes the financial service providers’ duty to…

Relative Marktmacht – gerichtliche Sicht

The amendment 2021 of the Swiss Federal Act on Cartels and other Restraints of Competition provides in the new article 4 section 2^bis a concretizing definition of market power as follows: “An undertaking with relative market power is an undertaking on which other undertakings are dependent for the supply of or demand for goods or services in such a way that there are no adequate and reasonable…

Wissen, Nichtwissen und Wissenmüssen von natürlichen und juristischen Personen

Many statutory or contractual provisions’ legal con­sequences depend on whether the addressee knew or should have known a fact. Thus, the question of what natural or legal persons know is of paramount im­por­tance. This paper defines the three key terms “knowledge”, “lack of knowledge”, and “knowledge that one should have had”. Also, it examines under which conditions a third party’s knowledge…

Der Limited Qualified Investor Fund (L-QIF) – Ein neuer Stern am Schweizer Fondshimmel?

The Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat) recently submitted a bill to Parliament to amend the Collective Investment Schemes Act in order to introduce a new Swiss fund category – the Limited Qualified Investment Fund (L-QIF). Inspired by Luxembourg’s Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF), the L-QIF, other than the existing Swiss fund products, shall be exempt from FINMA approval and supervision…

Informationspflichten bei der Kapitalanlage – von einzelfallbezogenen und von allgemein gehaltenen Informationen

When it comes to information obligations of financial service providers, the distinction between case-by-case information and generic information is of fundamental importance. While generic information obligations are typically fulfilled by publishing a brochure online and therefore hardly bring any benefit for investors, case-by-case information obligations usually lead to an improved…

Digitale Inhalte und Dienstleistungen

The legal classification of access to digital content and services can have a significant impact on the rights and obligations of the parties. While customers regularly assume a comprehensive right of use and disposal, providers want to retain control over assigned digital copies of goods by means of technical precautions and contractual mechanisms. Based on an analysis of the legal foundations…

Die Auswirkungen des Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsgesetzes auf das Aktienrecht

In spring 2020, the Swiss Federal Council launched, among other things, the Covid-19 credit programme in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. About 20% of all Swiss corporations have subsequently taken out a Covid-19 loan. Initially, the Covid-19 Joint and Several Surety Ordinance («Covid-19-Solidarbürgschaftsverordnung») served as the legal basis of the credit programme. Later the ordinance was…

Rechtsfragen des LIBOR-Wegfalls

For decades, the LIBOR has been the most widely used benchmark interest rate for financial contracts. At the end of 2021, following major manipulation scandals and a dwindling reliability of the rate as a benchmark, LIBOR will be discontinued for most currencies including the Swiss franc. As numerous LIBOR agreements such as credit agreements or capital market instruments (mainly OTC interest…

Das Profiling im neuen Datenschutzrecht

The revised Data Protection Act will introduce the concept of profiling into Swiss law. This term will be defined in the same way as in the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as any automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person. Unlike the GDPR, the new Act will create a special category of high-risk profiling, which is…

Praktische Problemfelder und Lösungsansätze in Bezug auf die «FinTech»-Bewilligungsvoraussetzungen von Art. 1b BankG

The piece at hand addresses in depth the FinTech license according to art. 1b of the Swiss Banking Act (BA) that is in force since January 1^st 2019. The FinTech license provides for a new category of a regulatory status for FinTech institutions that do not offer typical banking activities, but whose business touches certain elements of banking. It aims to foster innovation in the financial market…

Schutzzweck der Inhaltskontrolle von allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen

This article examines the reason for and justification of controlling the content of general terms and conditions by the legislator and the courts. Based on various individual and institutional protection concepts, it analyzes what the purpose of such content control can and actually should be. This contribution uses a legal theo­ry and law and economics research approach. The results of the…

Bestimmung von Vertragskonditionen im Rahmen automatisierter Entscheidungen

Automated decision making has become increasingly popular in the context of contracting. Essential contractual conditions, in particular the price, are automatically determined based on a number of factors, a wealth of data and by the use of algorithms. Automated decision making for contractual terms raises a number of legal issues and questions, in particularly related to data protection, fair…

Robot Recruiting

«Robot recruiting» refers to the automation of the recruiting process using data driven technologies. More than half of HR managers expect artificial intelligence to become part of their daily routine in just a few years’ time. Hiring algorithms are said to make hiring more consistent and efficient and even have the potential to remove interpersonal bias from the hiring process. But critics argue…

Die (neuen) Pflichten im Execution-only-Geschäft: Zusammenspiel von FIDLEG und OR

As a part of the new financial markets architecture, the Financial Services Act (FinSA) entered into force on 1 January 2020. It introduces unified rules for offering financial services and…

Grenzüberschreitendes Angebot von Finanzdienstleistungen und -produkten? Die Eidgenossenschaft schlägt zurück

Until recently, Switzerland applied a strict territorial approach to regulating financial services with a handful of a notable exceptions. After facing protectionist movements from other…

Aktuelle Rechtsprechung zur Haftung im Konzern

Federal court rulings on liability of the parent company in a Group have developed further since the classic decisions of the nineties in the matters of Swissair and Motor-Columbus. This article provides an overview of the handed down by the Federal Supreme Court over the past ten years. The article shows that the Court did not decide these cases based on principles of director’s liability,…

Gewährleistung bei vernetzten Geräten

The networking of devices leads to new legal issues. The following article examines how contracts around networked devices are legally classified. In particular, it will be examined whether the classical warranty rights of sales and works contract law are sufficient to adequately protect the needs of individual users.

Derivatgeschäfte: Anwendung der FinfraG-Regulierung auf Schweizer Handels- und Industrieunternehmen

The Swiss rules on the conduct in connection with derivative transactions and trading set out in the Federal Act on Financial Market Infrastructures and Market Conduct in Securities and Derivatives Trading (FMIA) and its implementing ordinances were enacted more than two years ago, subject to applicable phase-in periods. However, when it comes to their applicability to commercial and industrial…

Vertrauen im Kapitalmarkt

Trust is an essential element of a capital market. The market participants want to be confident that the other actors behave as expected. Financial market regulation supports the underlying expectations by ensuring transparency, prohibiting market abuses, stipulating various duties and imposing sanctions or liability in the event of breach. The objectives of most regulation, i.e., the protection…

Die regulatorische Antwort auf FinTech: Evolution oder Revolution? Eine Verortung aktueller Entwicklungen

While technological improvements have shaped the financial industry and its regulation for decades, FinTech is the buzzword of the hour. Rapidly developing digital technologies allow new market entrants to disrupt the traditional intermediary-based provision of financial services (I.). These new businesses – in particular those that operate payment systems or engage in crowdfunding – may clash…

Fusions-, Spaltungs- und Vermögensübertragungsverträge aus Sicht der Gesellschaft und der Gesellschafter

The Federal Act on Merger, Demerger, Transformation and Transfer of Assets (Merger Act) contains the minimal contents of the merger agreement, the demerger agreement and the transfer of assets agreement («the reorganisation agreement»). In addition, the Merger Act regulates which bodies of the involved companies have to give their consent to the reorganisation agreement and in which form to…

Eigentum an Sachdaten: Eine Standortbestimmung

In both legal writing and the public debate, there is a noticeable trend of growing support for some type of data ownership. This article examines the ongoing debate, thereby providing some contextual insights and a starting point for future research. In particular, we argue that a potential right to data ownership does not neatly fit into existing categories of property rights and liability…