Portfolio managers and trustees

Portfolio managers are persons who are eligible to accept assets belonging to others on the basis of a power of attorney, and who carry out this activity on a commercial basis, or who manage the assets of collective investment schemes or occupational pension schemes below the defined thresholds. Portfolio managers require a licence from FINMA before they commence their commercial activities.

The same applies to trustees, who on a commercial basis manage or hold a separate fund for the benefit of the beneficiaries or for a specified purpose based on the instrument creating a trust. Trustees also require a licence from FINMA before they commence their commercial activities.

A detailed description of the licensing process can be found here. Transitional provisions apply for portfolio managers and trustees who commenced their activity on a commercial basis before 1 January 2021.

Licensing requirements

FINMA will grant a licence if portfolio managers and trustees meet the legal requirements. These are set out in the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA), the Financial Institutions Ordinance (FinIO) and the FINMA Financial Institutions Ordinance (FinIO-FINMA). Further details can be found on the ‘Portfolio managers’ and ‘Trustees’ pages.

Portfolio managers and trustees must meet a number of personal, financial and organisational requirements. In particular, they are required to provide proof that they are domiciled in Switzerland, are suitably organised, and have adequate financial guarantees.
Moreover, members of the body responsible for management or of the body responsible for governance, supervision and control must be able to provide a guarantee of irreproachable business conduct, enjoy a good reputation and hold the required professional qualifications.

Preliminary authorisation enquiries

FINMA assesses enquiries from individuals and legal entities with regard to whether the intended business activities require a licence and are therefore subject to supervision. This involves appraising the legal aspects of a specific case before a licence application is submitted.

These assessments generally incur a fee. Enquiries should be addressed to the Authorisation section of FINMA’s Asset Management division.

Contact: Asset.Management@finma.ch

Ongoing supervision

A supervisory organisation (SO) is responsible for ensuring portfolio managers and trustees comply with licensing requirements. The SO is licensed and supervised by FINMA. Portfolio managers or trustees within domestic group companies are exempt from this rule, as they can be exclusively supervised by FINMA within its group supervision role once they have obtained their licence.

Changes

If a licensed portfolio manager or trustee intends to make a change to circumstances that affect their FINMA licence, this must be reported to the SO in advance and, depending on the change, also approved by FINMA. You can find further details here. 

The statutory licensing requirements must be complied with at all times without exception. 
The obligation to ensure ongoing compliance also applies in particular to the requirements for minimum capital and capital adequacy. The institution is responsible for regularly monitoring compliance with regulatory requirements by means of suitable and effective controls. If the institution becomes aware of a breach of the rules or if a specific breach is imminent in the foreseeable future, the SO must be informed immediately and an action plan drawn up.