Financial intermediaries: the chain of criminal liability (part one)
A five-part series: from individual errors to organisational failings, how criminal risk materialises and what recent case law tells us.
A five-part series: from individual errors to organisational failings, how criminal risk materialises and what recent case law tells us.
Swiss companies are regularly confronted with foreign requests for evidence without always understanding the potential criminal consequences.
The issue of Russian assets was discussed again on Thursday 18 December at a European summit in Brussels. Leaders finally decided overnight not to use frozen Russian assets, as they were unable to reach agreement on this unprecedented solution.
Churning has been in the news following a ruling in a criminal case rendered by the Swiss Supreme Court in 2024. In this ruling, our High Court established objective criteria for determining the existence of churning.
Since its introduction into Swiss law on 1 October 2003, corporate criminal liability has given rise to little published case law, making its application uncertain.
In private law, churning is not a defined term, and the question of when an asset manager engages in behaviour that constitutes churning depends on several factors.
At a time when international sanctions adopted by Switzerland are on the rise, Financial intermediaries are more and more exposed to the risk of running afoul of numerous ordinances regarding sanctions and anti-money laundering provisions, or even to risks of a prudential nature.
Available only in French
Available only in French
Available only in French