Legal Representative Services
Your partner for legal representative services in Switzerland.
Fund managers are facing significant challenges as the Swiss regulatory landscape constantly evolves. By partnering with OpenFunds you can rely on our expertise and know-how to control all regulatory risks and ease your administrative burden.
We provide...
- Analysis of the regulatory framework
- Advice on how to respect the FinSA legislation
- Affiliation with a Swiss financial ombudsman
We assure...
- Your documentation is compliant with the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA)
- You will comply with all obligations of the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA)
- Timely publication of all regulatory reports
Our services for you
Legal representation for our fund partners
- FINMA filings of funds for non-qualified investors
- Setup and review of legal representation agreements
- Check of fund documentation to assure full compliance with regulatory requirements
Point of contact for investors
- Provide fund documentation
- Deal with investor complaints
Legal framework
The FinSA obligations applicable to the manager/promoter of a fund depend on the regulatory status of the targeted investors. Managers/promoters marketing a fund to Swiss investors need to:
- Conduct a client segmentation of all Investors
- Ensure compliance with local organisational and conduct rules
- Undertake an ombudsman affiliation and join a client adviser register
The applicable CISA rules depend on:
1. The type of fund marketed: AIFs versus UCITS
2. The clients targeted: private/retail or institutional/professional
Important to note:
The appointment of a Legal Representative and a Paying Agent is still required if AIFs & UCITS are offered/ distributed to:
- High Net Worth Individuals
- Family offices
- Private clients, who choose to opt-out and are therefore classified as professional clients
The term "distribution“ and the rules related there to have been abolished by the introduction of FinSA and replaced by the concept of "advertising“, "offer" and "financial service". The practical application is that the CISA standard distribution agreement is redundant.
Distributors are no longer required to have a FINMA license, however, this is compensated by the prudential supervision of portfolio managers and the duty of client advisors to register in the advisory register.
Client advisors of non-supervised Swiss financial service providers and client advisors of foreign financial service providers serving retail clients may carry out their activities in Switzerland only if they are formally registered in the register of advisors and register with ombudsman office.
These requirements do not apply to financial service providers serving solely institutional or professional clients.
