Representatives of foreign collective investment schemes

Anyone representing foreign collective investment schemes vis-à-vis investors and FINMA is deemed to be a representative of foreign collective investment schemes. Their power of representation may not be limited.

Under Art. 5 para. 1 FinSA, foreign collective investment schemes may only be offered to non-qualified and qualified investors in Switzerland if the fund management company or company has first appointed a representative.

Authorisation requirements

Representatives of foreign collective investment schemes require authorisation from FINMA. In addition to the conditions set out in Article 14 CISA, representatives must meet the following requirements:

• minimum capital and collateral (Art. 131 CISO)

• professional indemnity insurance (Art. 132 CISO).

Fund management companies under FinIA are exempt from the authorisation requirements for representatives of foreign collective investment schemes (Art. 13 para. 3 CISA, Art. 8 CISO).

Role of a representative

The role of a representative is to represent a foreign collective investment scheme vis-à-vis investors and FINMA. In particular, representatives must comply with statutory reporting, publication and information requirements (Art. 131a and Art. 133 CISO).

Changes in circumstances

If there is any alteration to the basis on which authorisation was originally granted, permission must be obtained from FINMA before operations can be resumed (Art. 16 CISA, Arts. 14 and 15 CISO). The relevant application must be submitted to FINMA in an official language of the Swiss Confederation and must contain a detailed description of the requested changes. It must be accompanied by all the documents and information required for assessing the request. The same applies when a representative changes.

Reporting requirements

Representatives must comply with the statutory reporting requirements set out in Article 15 para. 4 CISO in relation to foreign collective investment schemes which are not offered exclusively to qualified investors. FINMA must be notified immediately of all such events (Art. 15 para. 5 CISO).

These include any changes to the documents of foreign collective investment schemes as defined in Article 13a CISO (Art. 15 para. 4 let. b. and Art. 133 para. 3 2. sub-paragraph CISO ) and any action taken by foreign supervisory authorities against the collective investment scheme, specifically revocation of its licence (Art. 15 para. 4 let. a. CISO).

Information and templates

When applying for authorisation, application templates are available on the EHP survey and application platform and the following documents can be used.

Applicants must self-register via the FINMA homepage to gain access to the EHP. Following self-registration and the review by FINMA, they will be able to access the EHP through the FINMA portal via two-factor identification.

The following unfolded application template serves as a guide and cannot be used as an application.