We have set up Swiss private label funds for regulated asset managers for over 25 years with the widest variety of investment strategies. If you are also planning to distribute your investment fund across Europe, we can also set up your investment fund via our affiliate company in Liechtenstein in an European format (UCITS or AIF).

In the near future we will also begin offering the innovative Swiss investment fund type L-QIF (“Limited Qualified Investment Fund”). This extremely flexible investment fund type can be set up rapidly without FINMA licensing. It is available to qualified investors.

In the case of private label funds, we take on the following tasks:

• Advice on the structuring of your investment fund
• Project responsibility for the setting up and licensing of the private label fund
• Operative connection to the desired custodian bank
• Preparing the entire fund documentation and all necessary legal agreements
• Preparing and regularly updating factsheets
• Fund accounting, investment compliance & risk management as well as regulatory tasks associated with the management of private label funds
• Provision of comprehensive reporting
• Ongoing regulatory advice on your investment fund
• Distribution of fund data to various fund and information platforms
• Registration of the fund for sale abroad
• Tax registration of the und abroad

We also have extensive experience when it comes to the repatriation of foreign funds to Switzerland or if you switch the fund management company of your Swiss fund to us.

Do you have any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us for non-binding information.

Foreign investment funds that wish to distribute their units to private clients in Switzerland require a legal representative as well as a paying agent in Switzerland. Our in-depth knowledge of the Swiss fund market as well as the regulations established by the Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act (“CISA”) guarantee you high-quality services in relation to questions associated with fund distribution in Switzerland. In our capacity as the legal representative of your fund, our responsibilities include:

• Advice on appointing a legal representative, a payment agent or a tax representative in Switzerland
• Coordinating the search and supporting the conclusion of a paying agent agreement – we work together with a number of paynig agents
• Preparing applications for FINMA approval
• Preparing the necessary information for investors in Switzerland
• Preparing all necessary legal agreements
• Monitoring sales activities in Switzerland as well as adherence to regulatory requirements
• Ongoing regulatory advice on your investment fund

Do you have any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us for non-binding information.

How can we support you when it comes to fund distribution? The most important topics are set out in the following useful information, along with helpful tips and links.

a. Regulatory advice
We support and advise you on regulatory questions relating to fund distribution. We provide templates to meet documentation obligations.

b. Link to ombudsman
Client advisers and financial services providers must be linked to a recognised ombudsman. This is also a precondition for entry in the Consultancy Register. Click on the following link for a list of FDF-recognised ombudsmen: https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/das-efd/ombudstelle-nach-fidleg.html .

Alternatively, you can join our cooperation agreement with the Swiss Financial Ombudsman (Finanzombudsstelle Schweiz – “FINOS”), thereby benefiting from reduced rates. In this case we are happy to complete the registration procedures on your behalf.

c. Entry in the register of advisers
Client advisers of financial services providers that are not prudentially supervised in Switzerland must arrange for themselves to be entered in a register of advisers. This register of advisers checks in particular whether the client advisers have completed the necessary training courses. See below “FINSA training and certification” (Fig. e.).

The following link leads you to the consultancy registers approved by FINMA: https://finma.ch/en/authorisation/fidleg-und-finig/informationen-zum-fidleg/.

d. Monitoring fund distribution in Switzerland
The commissioned sales agents (client advisers and financial services providers) are supported and monitored in respect of adherence to regulatory requirements. 

This service is of interest to foreign fund providers that wish to distribute their funds in Switzerland to certain professional investors. As the principal sales agent, we take on the delegation and monitoring of the distribution in Switzerland.

e. FINSA training and certification
The sale or offering of investment funds in Switzerland qualifies as a financial service under FINSA and requires adherence to certain codes of conduct. The following parties must have “adequate knowledge of FINSA codes of conduct”:

• independent client advisers
• employed client advisers of
  
  • Asset Managers
  • Wealth Managers and
  • non-domestic financial institutions

A number of providers offer training courses and recognised certification

• Fund Academy AG (www.fund-academy.com) offers a one-day training course “FIDLEG / FINIG Compact” (https://www.fund-academy.com/fidleg-finig-compact/) with compulsory presence and certification
• If, by contrast, web-based training is preferred, the recognised service provider Center for Business Studies (www.cf-studies.ch) may be used. The following link can be used to register for these online courses: https://www.cf-studies.ch/fidlegclientadvisory/overview.html
  A source of web-based certification is the service provider Kryterion (https://www.kryteriononline.com/). The following link can be used to register for this certification: https://www.webassessor.com/finsaclientadvisortest

f. Professional indemnity insurance
Client advisers or financial services providers for whom client advisers work must take out professional indemnity insurance in order to cover their liability for financial losses. This professional indemnity insurance must meet FINSA / FINSO requirements

GEA Global Expert Advice also offers professional indemnity insurance with exclusive rights (insurer: Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE, Zurich branch): https://www.g-e-a.ch/fidleg

As an alternative to the required professional indemnity insurance, proof of equivalent financial security may be provided.

g. Network of distribution partners
We have a network of professional distribution partners who will be pleased to help you distribute your investment fund. Contact to our distribution partners will be provided upon request.

h. Contract management
We shall prepare all necessary distribution agreements or financial services agreements. If you further delegate your distribution, we shall support you with sample agreements as well as with monitoring the delegated sales.

With our supplementary services we offer you professional support in all of your fields of activity. Our supplementary services encompass inter alia

• ad-hoc advice on the regulatory requirements of FINSA, FINIA and CISA
• our semi-annual Newsletter on current regulatory topics
• the preparation of comprehensive fund reports (for example, contribution/attribution, performance analysis, benchmark comparisons, rating analyses) or
• the preparation of regularly updated factsheets