Suchergebnisse für gage

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…

Le dommage d’investissement et sa preuve

Many civil claims against financial advisers and portfolio managers fail because they do not meet the high threshold set out by Swiss courts for the allegation and proof of the claimant’s loss. This article critically reviews the extensive case law on the topic. We submit that unauthorized financial transactions are distinct from other defective transactions. Following long-established case law…

La banque et le créancier prêteur face à l’insolvabilité de l’emprunteur : moyens préventifs et curatifs

In a contractual relationship, a bank, or more generally a lender, on the one hand, and a borrower on the other, harmoniously blend, as long as the borrower complies with the repayments’ obligations arising from the loan agreement. However, in such an agreement, risk lies primarily on the lender. Indeed, as soon as the money has been made available, the lender takes the default’s risk. This…

L’intermédiation en assurance : quelques considérations à la lumière de la révision partielle de la loi fédérale sur la surveillance des institutions d’assurance privées (LSA)

The Federal Act of 17 December 2004 on the Oversight of Insurance Companies (IOA) underwent a partial revision which was adopted by the parliament on March 18, 2022. The entry into force is planned for July 1, 2023, after the ordinance has been updated following the consultation procedure that ended in December 2022. This partial revision responds to developments that have occurred in the…

Das schweizerische Bankprivatrecht 2022 | Le droit bancaire privé suisse 2022

Die Rechtsprechung zum privaten Bankrecht skizziert jeweils die neusten Entwicklungen in der richterlichen Rechtsfortbildung. Tatsächlich führen uns viele Entscheide aber auf eine Reise in die…

Welches «Too-big-to-fail»-Regime braucht die Schweiz?

On March 19, 2023, the Swiss Finance Minister together with the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA announced the rescue operation for Credit Suisse, the second largest Swiss banking group. After having lost the confidence of its customers, creditors and investors and unprecedented deposit outflows a rescue operation by involving the state of Switzerland…

Bail-in-Bonds

Following the financial crisis of 2007/08, the bail-in has established itself as the preferred resolution strategy for large banks throughout Switzerland and internationally. According to the concept, it is not the bank’s owners or the state that are to finance a resolution but the bank’s creditors. This is to be achieved by converting a certain type of debt called «bail-in-bonds» into equity…

Floating Charge as Security in Debt Finance Transactions

The granting of security by the way of a floating charge is a common law concept which allows the entirety of a company’s assets to be used as collateral. Borrowers and lenders profit from this highly flexible means of providing a comprehensive security interest in debt finance transactions. This article examines whether the concept of floating charge is recognized under Swiss law or not. For…

The New EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation and its Implications for Switzerland

The EU has adopted a new unilateral instrument to control subsidies granted by non-EU countries, such as Switzerland, to companies operating in the EU. This subsidy control combines antitrust, state aid and trade rules, but applies directly to companies rather than to foreign states or granting authorities. Companies with some activities in the EU fall within the scope of this foreign subsidy…

Das Finanzmarktaufsichtsrecht vom vierten Quartal 2022 bis ins vierte Quartal 2023

Ob gross oder klein, vor den Marktkräften sind sie alle gleich! Auch die ganz Grossen – «global systemically important financial institutions» (G-SIFIs)¹ – können straucheln, mit viel Getöse,…

Les enjeux de la CSRD pour les entreprises suisses

The CSRD, which substantially expands the scope of companies forced to publish sustainability-related data, has a direct and indirect extraterritorial effect on Swiss companies. Size is not the only relevant criterion. Engaging with the EU market or with European companies can have (unexpected) implications. This worldwide impact is coupled with comprehensive and granular disclosures covering a…

Sustainable Purpose-Driven Enterprises

Social enterprises (in a broad sense), including those launched by social (or sustainable) entrepreneurs (or Sustainable Purpose-Driven Entities) are important players to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developing a legal framework that allows them to prosper has been a priority of the European Commission since 2010. These entities have recently been endorsed by the United…

Clauses de modification unilatérale des conditions générales des banques

The use of General Terms and Conditions (GTC) is essential for the rational management of banking business – to the benefit of both banks and their customers. Over the often lengthy duration of a banking relationship, it is also important that these GTC can be adapted. In general, a change to the GTC is a change to the contract and should be made in accordance with the general rules. Swiss law,…

The Normative Effects of ESG Expectations on Companies and their Directors

Most companies face a growing number of environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations arising not only from their shareholders, but also from a wide array of stakeholders such as clients, investors, States, financial institutions and not-for-profit organisations. Even though a significant number of these expectations are not imposed by hard or soft law, they cannot be disregarded in…

Venture Capital, ESG and Sustainable Investments

Sustainability is a pressing issue that requires addressing various environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges. The venture capital industry has the potential to play a crucial role in sustainable investments due to its characteristics, such as long-term investment horizons and investor protections. However, sustainability has yet to become a major topic in private equity and venture…

Actions de loyauté : une fausse bonne idée

Over its summer session 2018, the Swiss National Council adopted the possibility for companies limited by shares (sociétés anonymes/Aktiengesellschaften) to include in their articles of association certain financial privileges to the benefit of shareholders registered for at least two consecutive years in the share register (loyalty shares). This article presents the legislative work in progress…

ESG Considerations and Public Benefit Corporations

There appears to be an international demand among investors for for-profit enterprises that commit to a social or environmental purpose and consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects. Inspired by U.S. legislation, EU and other state legislators have enacted statutes with new legal forms of business organizations – so-called benefit corporations – or are considering to do so in…

Das Gesellschaftsrecht 2022/2023 | Le droit des sociétés 2022/2023

Im berücksichtigten Zeitraum vom 1. April 2022 bis zum 31. März 2023 wurden wenige Urteile gefällt und nur ein Bruchteil davon wurden veröffentlicht bzw. zur Veröffentlichung vorgesehen. Trotzdem…

Quelle action initiée contre une banque pour des opérations exécutées par un employé de ladite banque sans autorisation du client ?

Un ressortissant turc ouvre un compte auprès d’un établissement bancaire genevois en 2004. Le client ne conclut avec la banque ni mandat de gestion de fortune ni mandat de conseil en placements. La…

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…

Le dommage d’investissement et sa preuve

Many civil claims against financial advisers and portfolio managers fail because they do not meet the high threshold set out by Swiss courts for the allegation and proof of the claimant’s loss. This article critically reviews the extensive case law on the topic. We submit that unauthorized financial transactions are distinct from other defective transactions. Following long-established case law…

La banque et le créancier prêteur face à l’insolvabilité de l’emprunteur : moyens préventifs et curatifs

In a contractual relationship, a bank, or more generally a lender, on the one hand, and a borrower on the other, harmoniously blend, as long as the borrower complies with the repayments’ obligations arising from the loan agreement. However, in such an agreement, risk lies primarily on the lender. Indeed, as soon as the money has been made available, the lender takes the default’s risk. This…

L’intermédiation en assurance : quelques considérations à la lumière de la révision partielle de la loi fédérale sur la surveillance des institutions d’assurance privées (LSA)

The Federal Act of 17 December 2004 on the Oversight of Insurance Companies (IOA) underwent a partial revision which was adopted by the parliament on March 18, 2022. The entry into force is planned for July 1, 2023, after the ordinance has been updated following the consultation procedure that ended in December 2022. This partial revision responds to developments that have occurred in the…

Das schweizerische Bankprivatrecht 2022 | Le droit bancaire privé suisse 2022

Die Rechtsprechung zum privaten Bankrecht skizziert jeweils die neusten Entwicklungen in der richterlichen Rechtsfortbildung. Tatsächlich führen uns viele Entscheide aber auf eine Reise in die…

Insider Trading im digitalen Zeitalter: Neue Herausforderungen und Risiken

Insider trading has existed since the launch of the very first organized trading venues and is now prohibited in most jurisdictions. The growing digitalization of the financial industry is adding several layers of complexity to the topic and creating both new risks and opportunities for market participants. First, digitalization brings about a higher interconnectivity between the global financial…

Cyberattaque et ransomware: risques juridiques à payer et assurabilité des rançons

Legal risks of paying ransom following a ransomware attack need to be clarified, as such attacks are constant­ly increasing and victims always face the same dilemma: whether to pay the ransom or not? Insurability of ransomware needs also to be clarified, as some cyber insurance companies offer to cover the risk of ransomware without knowing whether such clauses are really insurable. This…

Innovation in Pharmaceutical Mergers: Looking for a Miracle Cure?

The European Commission’s approach to analysing the negative effects of a merger on competition has recently changed. Whereas for years, competition authorities have mainly focused on the effects of a merger on prices, the impact on output, or the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in a given market, they are now examining the effects of a merger on innovation. The analysis of the…

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

Die Governance von PostFinance – Zwischen Grundversorgungsauftrag, Systemrelevanz und Kreditverbot

This article deals with the governance of PostFinance, a financial institute held by the Swiss Post. PostFinance has on one hand a service obligation for basic payment transaction services. On the other hand, PostFinance is banned from the credit and mortgage business and has to operate on a restricted business model. On top, PostFinance is qualified as a systemically important financial…

Digital Markets Act – questions choisies

A few enterprises of important size, offering core online platform services, play a major role in the digital economy and, as such, exercise significant control over market access, leading to dependencies of their users and potentially to unfair behaviors. To apprehend and help preventing abuses, the European Commission has issued a new Regulation proposal, the “Digital Markets Act ”, applying to…

Le droit des sociétés 2021/2022 / Das Gesellschaftsrecht 2021/2022

Cette année, le Tribunal fédéral a eu l’occasion de se prononcer sur des questions dont on peut s’étonner qu’elles se posent pour la première fois à lui, compte tenu des discussions qu’elles ont…

Sanctions Américaines: Extraterritorialité et Risques Bancaires

A Swiss bank operating in the US must comply with applicable US laws. Difficulties may arise from the „off-shore“ application of US sanctions. The US sanctions regime is well known¹, especially through the publications of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)² and through the calls for caution issued by the banking supervisory authority³. This contribution provides an update on the…

To Infinity and Beyond: U.S. Dollar-Based Jurisdiction in the U.S. Sanctions Context

The power to print the world’s dominant currency gives the United States enormous leverage in pursuing its geopolitical objectives. This is particularly evident in the sanctions context, where the mere “use” of the U.S. financial system will pull parties into U.S. jurisdiction even if they are located outside the United States. This article highlights the recent extensions of jurisdictional…

Le droit bancaire privé suisse 2021 / Das schweizerische Bankprivatrecht 2021

Au moment où nous écrivons ces lignes, la Russie envahit l’Ukraine. L’Union européenne et les États-Unis ont adopté de nouvelles sanctions contre plusieurs centaines de personnalités liées au régime…

Open Finance und Decentralized Finance – Entwicklungen in einem disruptiven Finanzmarktumfeld

The recent technological developments not only impact society in general but they also strongly influence financial markets, even in a disruptive way. Open finance and decentralized finance cause an opening of the financial ecosystem and challenge existing notions; for example, new concepts are needed for the regulation of data access/portability and of digital identity as well as for the…

Questions de responsabilité civile et contractuelle soulevées par la distribution de „logiciels libres“ (open source)

Since the 1980s, the free and open software («FOSS») movement promotes the open exchange of software and of its source code to disrupt the limitations brought upon by the copyrightability of software. The recent emergence of public repositories such as GitHub has however impacted the distribution model of FOSS software – as many of them can now be downloaded and operated freely by their users,…

Le rôle du représentant indépendant des actionnaires en droit suisse de la société anonyme, notamment à l’aune de la législation COVID et des assemblées générales virtuelles du nouveau droit

The independent proxy emerged in Swiss company law a few years ago through the back door of the Minder initiative (Article 95 Federal Constitution). This constitutional provision was then implemented by the Ordinance against Excessive Remuneration in Listed Companies Limited by Shares (ORAb), which has been in force since 1 January 2014. Its institution has been given a new lease of life with the…

Grüne Finanzprodukte

For environmentally sustainable financial products to be recognized by market participants, sufficient information about their environmental risks and impacts must be available. However, without regulatory measures, there are insufficient incentives for product providers to disclose the relevant information. The market is unable to correct these information deficits itself. The regulatory vacuum…

Editorial

L’essor de la digitalisation touche tous les secteurs de la vie quotidienne et de l’économie. L’accès aux données, leur protection, leur utilisation notamment pour le développement de l’intelligence…

Intelligence artificielle: licence libre et gouvernance collective des données à travers l’altruisme des données et les data trusts

Data access is central for the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Data may be however subject to a multitude of rights and actors (e.g. copyrighted works or personal data posted on social media or collected through captcha and used for AI training purposes), leading to a fragmented legal framework and legal frictions. This contribution explores how to apply open and free licenses to all…

Intelligence artificielle: la titularité des données

Data are at the heart of AI systems. Without data, AI systems are valueless. Data come into play at different phases, both at the input level (training sets, validating sets, testing sets), as well as at the output level. Although the Proposal for AI Regulation released on 21 April 2021 by the European Commission offers a promising regulatory framework as to the governance related to the design…

Solidarische Haftung einer Bank für Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Sudan

On 16 February 2021, a New York court held that under Art. 50(1) of the Swiss Code of Obligations, a bank may become jointly and severally liable for human rights violations committed by a foreign…

Sociétés hybrides, entreprises sociales, B-Corp: Le droit suisse est-il approprié?

Entrepreneurs have to increasingly navigate in a world where they cannot ignore their accountability towards the SDGs and society in general. Companies in fact are expected to consider the interests of all stakeholders, and management is required to adopt a long-term and sustainable vision, in which making profits goes hand in hand with the necessity to create a positive impact. This trend is…

Corporate Governance et liberté d’organisation

The question of limits to contractual freedom in corporate law is intensively discussed in connection with corporate governance. In that context, the tension between authority and accountability of the board of directors and the best way to address this issue in corporate law are two of the most controversial topics. Over these last years, the trend in almost all jurisdictions has been to…

Le compliance officer face au risque pénal découlant du dispositif anti-blanchiment

In the financial sector, the function of compliance officer is closely linked to the fight against money laun­dering, which is one of the main risks for the Swiss financial centre. The profession has important responsibilities in this field and breaches of its obligations can lead to (administrative) criminal sanctions, in particular for money laundering or violation of the duty to report a…

Les effets des nouvelles règles sur la prescription en droit bancaire et financier

The partial reform of limitation rules in the Code of obligations, effective since 2020, has limited impact on the banking and financial sector. Yet specific matters call for renewed attention. We analyse the consequences of the new 3-year and 10-year limitation rule for claims based on torts and unjust enrichment, specifically in connection with defective transfers of funds, intermediated…

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 schweizerische Bankprivatrecht 2020 | Le droit bancaire privé suisse 2020

Das Jahr 2020 war in vielerlei Hinsicht aussergewöhnlich. Demgegenüber bewegen sich die Entscheide zum privaten Bankrecht, die in diesem Jahr gefällt wurden, zu einem Grossteil im Rahmen des…

In eigener Sache | Affaires internes

Das Herausgeberkollegium der SZW/RSDA steht vor personellen Veränderungen. Mit Prof. Dr. Walter A. Stoffel und Prof. Dr. Rolf Sethe verlassen zwei langjährige und verdiente Mitglieder das…

Annonce des violations de la sécurité des données: une nouvelle obligation de la nLPD

The data security principle (art. 8 of the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (rFADP) requires that the controller and when applicable the processor take all the necessary measures to maintain a sufficient level of security when processing personal data, including to prevent any data breach. Nevertheless, data breaches can occur and when so, the controller shall react quickly in order to…