What is a Swiss Trust Company?

Start with the entity

The phrase Swiss Trust Company is often used to describe a Swiss company associated with fiduciary, holding, family or financial activities. A careful explanation starts by identifying the particular legal entity, rather than attaching a uniform set of capabilities to the description.

Record the entity’s registered name, identification number, legal form, domicile and purpose. Then identify the activities it actually conducts and those contemplated by its owners. Keeping those enquiries separate makes the subsequent legal and regulatory analysis more precise.

A company and a trust answer different questions

For the purposes of the HCCH Trusts Convention, a trust is a legal relationship in which assets are placed under a trustee’s control for beneficiaries or a specified purpose. Its features include a separate fund and duties attached to the trustee’s administration. That description concerns the relationship and property arrangements; it does not identify a particular Swiss company or certify its activities.

When a transaction involves both a company and a trust, ask which entity performs each role, which assets belong to whom, and which instruments and laws govern those arrangements. Use the actual documents to connect those layers.

Source reading: HCCH ↗

Assess the activity separately

A company name, an old incorporation date or a broad corporate purpose should not be used as a substitute for investigating the permissions relevant to a proposed activity. Commercial trustee services, investment management and other financial activities each require their own analysis.

FINMA describes the licensing framework for commercial trustees, including relevant criteria and exemptions. The question is whether the facts of the specific activity fall within that framework.

Source reading: FINMA ↗

Build a reading file

This approach lets the reader move from a commercial description to questions that can be answered with evidence. It also leaves room for the differences between individual companies and arrangements.

• The current commercial-register information and corporate documents.
• A clear account of ownership, governance and the company’s intended role.
• The trust instrument, if a trust relationship is involved.
• Evidence supporting any claim about authorisation or affiliation.
• An activity-specific assessment of regulatory, tax and banking requirements.

Source reading: Swiss Confederation ↗FINMA ↗