Advice on financial markets law with a particular focus on anti-money laundering
Financial markets law is a complex matter and one that is constantly evolving. It occupies a space somewhere between administrative law, in the sense that business activities are usually subject to authorisation, private law with respect to dealings between service providers and their clients, and criminal law in the event of a breach of the rules in force, such as the requirement to obtain a given authorisation.
A number of activities (banking operations including accepting deposits and granting credit, managing collective investment schemes, individual asset management, services relating to payment transactions, fiduciary activities, commodities and precious metals trading, etc.) and service providers (banks, insurers, investment dealers, fund management companies, fund managers, representatives, distributors, independent asset managers, trust companies, etc.) fall within the scope of financial markets law. THEVOZ Attorneys specialises in this area and advises its clients on it accordingly.
Anti-money laundering represents an area all of its own within financial markets law. In fact, unlike other financial markets laws, the aim of the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act or AMLA (loi sur la lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent, LBA) is not to protect investors, but rather to protect financial intermediaries themselves against the risk of being used by criminal organisations as a conduit through which the proceeds of criminal activities are able to enter the financial system. Therefore, the risk run by financial intermediaries is that of being complicit in money laundering and finding themselves in the crosshairs of the prosecution authorities. In order to mitigate this risk, those financial intermediaries subject to the AMLA are required to comply with a number of duties of due diligence in order to identify their clients and clarify the economic background of the latter’s business dealings. THEVOZ Attorneys’s attorney are fully capable of advising clients in this respect and helping them to establish both an organisational structure and internal documentation tailored in such a way as to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering due diligence.
