From safekeeping to planning

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When banking secrecy ended for foreign clients, the Swiss private banks had to find a new justification for their fees. Much of the answer lay in wealth planning, the discipline that structures the assets of a family across generations, jurisdictions and legal systems. Basel had practised a form of wealth planning long before the term existed. The patrician families of the city held their fortunes in family partnerships, endowed charitable foundations, intermarried with prudence and passed their silk ribbon factories, trading houses and banks from father to son over two and three centuries. The private banks that grew out of this world understood that a family fortune is a legal and emotional construction as much as a portfolio of securities.¹

Today, wealth planning from Basel serves a clientele that is more international than ever. Families from Germany, France, Italy, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia hold assets in Basel banks, own companies in several countries and have children who study in London, work in New York and marry in Singapore. Their questions concern the law of succession, the taxation of inheritances and gifts, the protection of assets against creditors and divorce, the governance of family companies and the philanthropic use of wealth. Each question crosses at least two legal systems, often more.

This chapter describes the instruments and institutions of wealth planning as they are used in and from Basel. It examines the Swiss foundation, the recognition of trusts under the Hague Convention, the debate on a Swiss trust law, the taxation of wealthy individuals including lump-sum taxation and cantonal inheritance taxes, the use of life insurance as a planning tool, the reform of Swiss private international law in matters of succession and the interaction with the European Succession Regulation. It closes with the governance of family wealth and the role of the advisers who practise this discipline.

Notes

On the family strategies of the Basel patriciate (family partnerships, foundations, marriage alliances) from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, see the literature cited in Part B and Part C, in particular Sarasin, Stadt der Bürger, 1997. To be verified. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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From safekeeping to planning

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?