The Financial Action Task Force and Switzerland

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The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body founded by the G7 in 1989 with its secretariat at the OECD in Paris, sets the international standards for the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and evaluates their implementation by its members. Switzerland is a founding member. Its mutual evaluation of 2016 found the Swiss regime generally effective but identified weaknesses. Among them were the limited use of suspicious activity reports by the prosecution authorities, the treatment of domestic politically exposed persons, the lack of transparency of legal entities and the gaps in the coverage of certain activities, in particular those of lawyers and advisers who create and manage companies and trusts.¹

Switzerland responded with a series of revisions: the revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2021, which strengthened the duties to verify information on beneficial owners and to update client data, the abolition of bearer shares, the strengthening of MROS and, in 2025, the Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities. The next evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force will examine whether these measures have closed the gaps.

Notes

On the FATF mutual evaluation report on Switzerland of December 2016 and the follow-up reports, see the FATF publications. 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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