The case

Swiss Federal Council responds after being criticized for money laundering by other countries.
Yesterday I informed about the Swiss Federal Council’s proposals: Link
The latest inspection report had recommended that in the future due diligence would not only have to apply to banks and other providers of financial services but also to attorneys, fiduciaries and notaries. After the “Panama Papers” had been published last year, the role played by attorneys drawing up obscure company structures had been in the limelight.
The Swiss Federal Council plans on submitting the announced law for proposal by the end of this year.

Source: NZZ e-paper 29 June 2017 (highly abbreviated) and admin.ch

The commentary

Due diligence basically affects five elements: i) the identification of clients, ii) the determination of the beneficial owner of the assets in question, iii) the documentation of the transactions, iv) more detailed investigation in cases where there are suspicious facts, v) duty to report to an official reporting office if there is justified suspicion of money laundering. These duties have been anchored in the law and currently only apply to attorneys, fiduciaries and notaries if they professionally manage their clients’ assets or if, e.g. they have financial control over their clients’ assets. In the future the duties shall apply to all members of these branches. However, due diligence shall not be applicable to the real estate industry even though GAFI had also criticized that this branch is not subject to the money laundering act.

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