Suchergebnisse für légitimation

Digitale Generalversammlungen und Verwaltungsratssitzungen

The 19 June 2020 revision of the provisions on the limited by shares company contains various facilitations for the use of technical means in the conduct of general meetings and board meetings. What are the concrete options available and what are the practical implications of these innovations? What do banks need to consider from a prudential perspective? After an overview of the digitization in…

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…

Aktien als individualisierte Rechte und die dadurch in der Trias Mitgliedschaft –Wertpapier/Wertrecht –Bucheffekte verursachten Probleme

Shares (Aktien) in the sense of memberships (Mitgliedschaften) in corporations are in principle individualized, non-fungible rights. They come into existence as non-certified shares (unverbriefte Aktien). In order to make them more negotiable such non-certified rights are often wrapped into a cover (Hülle). By this wrapping process (Umhüllung) the non-certified shares are transformed into…

Tokenisierung von Aktien unter dem neuen DLT-Gesetz (insb. Art. 973d ff. OR) und CMTA Standard

With the entry into force of the Swiss Federal Act on the Adaptation of the Federal Legislation to Developments in Electronic Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT Act) in 2021, various uncertainties relating to the tokenization of financial instruments have been clarified. In particular, the legal framework of such tokenization, understood as the association between digital tokens and certain…

Salärgovernance und neues Aktienrecht

In determining the compensation of directors and top management, the board of directors of public companies is faced with a structural conflict of interest. The aim to mitigate this conflict through an appropriate design of the procedure forms the essence of the say-on-pay rules introduced by the Swiss electorate in a public vote in 2013 and implemented on a transitional basis in the Ordinance…

Zivilrechtliche Aspekte von Geschäftsabwicklungen auf DLT-Handelsplattformen

Following FINMA’s definition of the framework conditions for the creation of digital assets (tokens) under financial market law, the DLT Act of September 2020 has now also clarified legal issues relating to the transfer of and trading in such assets. Thanks to the newly created normative order, business transactions on DLT trading platforms can be conducted in a largely legally secure manner…

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…

Prospektrechtliche Gleichbehandlungspflicht bei Ausnahmen von der Prospektpflicht

In the absence of a duty to publish a prospectus, art. 39 of the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA) obliges offerors and issuers to treat investors equally when providing them with material information on a public offer of securities. This provision is applicable in cases in which securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a trading platform if the obligation to publish a…

Datenportabilität und ihre Umsetzung

The right to data portability will be introduced, as a first for Switzerland, with the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. Inspired by the GDPR but with a “Swiss finish”, data subjects may (if certain conditions are met) request the controller to transfer “their” personal data to them or another controller. However, a number of questions remain open, for example: Which type of data is subject to…

Dokumentenherausgabe nach FIDLEG vs. datenschutzrechtliche Auskunftserteilung

The claim for disclosure according to FinSA is supposed to enable the customer to obtain evidence to effectively enforce his or her rights from the contractual relationship with the financial service provider. The right to request information according to FADP is meant to enable the data subject to control his or her personal data and thus to protect and enforce his or her personal rights…

Kartellrechtliche Fragen bei der Gründung eines Joint Ventures

Opening up new markets or pursuing major projects can often only be achieved with partners, which is why companies form joint ventures. When planning and implementing such cooperation projects, economic and contractual considerations are in practice the main focus. However, the influence of antitrust law on this form of cooperation should not be underestimated. The relevance of antitrust law is…

Digitalisierung des Aktienrechts – Die Ausgabe von Aktien als Registerwertrechte

Increasing digitisation is changing the society and economy, and therefore also affects the law regulating stock corporations. Wherever possible, physical processes are replaced by digital ones. With the emerging of distributed ledger technology (hereinafter DLT), a tendency towards dematerialization can be observed. DLT, or the technology of distributed electronic registers, is the technology of…

Prüfungsrecht und -pflicht der AG in Bezug auf das Aktieneigentum ihrer Aktionäre, v.a. auch im Zusammenhang mit den neuen Vorschriften des Global Forum-Gesetzes

In the recent past the ownership (title) due diligence in share deals, i.e. the due diligence regarding the seller’s unencumbered ownership in the sold shares, became more and more important in practice, as experience shows that in a high percentage of cases there are se­rious issues in this respect. This leads to the question on the scope of the examination rights and examination obligations of…

Les clauses statutaires relatives au transfert des actions de la société anonyme

This article deals with the admissibility of statutory acquisition clauses with regard to the right of the free transmissibility of shares (Art. 685 ss of the Swiss Code of Obligations, CO) and the prohibition of additional obligations at shareholders’s cost (Art. 680 CO). In order to resolve this issue, a distinction must be made between statutory acquisition clauses relating to the shares of…

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…

Konzept und Praxis der aktienrechtlichen Sanierung

This essay deals with capital loss and overindebtedness and the related duties of the Board of Directors according to the current Swiss Code of Obligations. Furthermore, a look is taken at the future Swiss restructuring law. It has been concluded that Swiss restructuring law does little credit to its name as most restructuring proceedings end in bankruptcy of the respective company. One possible…

Aktien als digitalisierte Werte

Shares issued on a distributed ledger have already been designated as a future market standard. The potential of these dlt-shares is also acknowledged by the Swiss government, which has published a preliminary draft on the adaptation of federal law to developments in distributed ledger technology earlier this year. This essay focuses on various mainly private law issues related to the issuance…

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,…

Le droit à l’information de l’administrateur et sa mise en œuvre judiciaire

This article deals with the right to information and ­inspection of a member of the board of directors (Article 715a of the Swiss Code of Obligations, CO) and the possibility, recently acknowledged by the Federal Tribunal, to raise a claim based on such right. The implementing of Article 715a CO in court gives rise to a number of questions. Often, time is of the essence and a court decision may…

Betrugsversuche im Zahlungsverkehr im digitalen Zeitalter

Money transfers have always been the target of fraudsters. For decades Swiss banks limited liability in their contracts with clients to intent and gross negligence. The Federal Supreme Court, however, often denied applying this broad liability exclusion. Today, banks usually commit themselves to verify the identification of the client with customary due diligence but also request from the client…

«Exit» aus der Nachlassstundung nach erfolgreicher Sanierung – ­Erste Erkenntnisse zum neuen Art. 296a SchKG

Under Swiss insolvency laws, companies in financial distress aiming at a restructuring rather than a winding-up can opt for a debt-restructuring moratorium (Nachlassstundung) as an alternative to bankruptcy proceedings. While composition proceedings are significantly less frequent in practice than formal bankruptcy proceedings, they are often used by major companies with numerous employees and a…

Ist die neue Finanzmarkt­regulierung funktionsfähig?

The article describes the causes of financial market crises. It assesses the advantages and disadvantages of the legislative measures taken since the crisis of 2007/­2008. Finally, it outlines what additional or alternative measures could be taken to increase the stability of the financial markets and to improve supervision.

Bankgeschäfte nach der Krise: Safer, simpler, fairer?

Ten years after the global financial crisis, the Financial Stability Board reports that regulation has built a «safer, simpler and fairer financial system». While there are indeed notable improvements in the regulatory architecture, the question remains whether banking, as seen from a retail customer perspective, has become safer, simpler, and fairer. This article argues that, overall, retail…

Global agieren, lokal profitieren – und keine Verantwortung?

The debate about responsible business conduct has gained new momentum in Switzerland due to the responsible business initiative («Konzernverantwortungsinitiative») which triggered the drafting of a counter-­proposal by the National Council in the context of the ongoing revision of the company law. This contribution situates this debate in the relevant international con­text. The analysis’ focus…

Wie die Arbeit, so der Lohn – Vergütung in privaten und kotierten Gesellschaften

Rising executive pay is a vital topic for shareholders, proxy advisors, academics and the wider public. It is worth noting that the remuneration of auditors for their audit services has hardly attracted shareholder attention even though falling audit fees may be a reason for weaknesses in corporate control. In this perspective it looks like an anomaly that the remuneration of the party…