Significant amendments of anti-money laundering laws in Switzerland including dealing with direct and indirect taxation. Responding to an international demand for more transparency and harsher money laundering regulations, the Swiss legislator is constantly revising Swiss anti-money laundering law. The latest revision, adopted in December 2014, is the new Act on the implementation of the Financial […]

The US Federal Reserve has barred five Swiss bankers from participating in the banking industry. The bankers were all criminally indicted in the US in 2011 for their alleged role in the tax evasion conspiracy that Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to last year. The bankers have remained safe from extradition and have yet to voluntarily […]

The number of cases reported to the Swiss Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) last year rose by almost a quarter, largely due to increased awareness by financial intermediaries, it has revealed. In 2014, 1,753 suspicious activity reports (SAR) were filed to the MROS, an increase of 24% compared with the previous year and the highest […]

Swiss Corporate Law to be heavily impacted by FATF recommendation N0. 24: In implementing the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF, or Group d’action financière, GAFI) recommendations, the federal legislator adopted changes to the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) which will fundamentally impact well-established corporate law. Bearer shares will de facto be abolished and holders […]

Swiss prosecutors have uncovered over 300 accounts suspected linked to Petrobras corruption Switzerland has frozen roughly $400 million in Swiss accounts in the investigation and has begun to return an initial 120 million to Brazilian officials, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber said at a news conference in Brasilia. “We do not tolerate the misuse of […]

Documents released by a Brazilian court have outlined the alleged use of Swiss bank accounts for the payment of bribes in the Petrobras scandal. Pedro Barusco, a former Petrobras executive and key witness in what is emerging as Brazil’s biggest graft case, said in a statement filed with a court in Parana that he laundered […]

The venerable Coutts bank, home of the Queen’s personal accounts, has been drawn into the mounting controversy about private banking with an admission that its Swiss arm is under investigation for aiding and abetting tax evasion. Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns the 300-year-old Coutts, admitted on Thursday that German prosecutors are investigating current and […]

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has opened a consultation on the draft revised version of the FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance. The revised ordinance reflects both the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act of 12 December 2014 and the revised Financial Action Task Force recommendations. The revised ordinance also includes insights gained from supervisory practice and […]