English
Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP
Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law (Zurich, Switzerland)
Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP)
Solicitor (Hong Kong)
Solicitor (England & Wales)
Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law (Germany)
For more than twenty years I have advised companies, their owners and their investors on cross-border business between Europe and Asia.
Based in Zurich and supported by my team of Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese and Korean native speakers, I help companies from Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to establish, finance and grow their business in Switzerland. I also advise clients from Europe and North America. We advise companies and their owners on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland: setting up the Swiss company or holding, drafting the shareholder and commercial agreements, opening bank accounts with specialised merchant banks or general corporate banks, obtaining regulatory licences and permits, and structuring the investment through international tax planning so that profits reach the shareholders at the lowest tax cost. My team and I advise on all areas of Swiss law.
You deal with me personally from the first conversation to completion, and my team works under my direct supervision. Decisions are therefore taken quickly, and nothing is lost between different lawyers and offices.
15 years in Singapore and Hong Kong
Before returning to Europe I practised for 15 years in Singapore and Hong Kong, where I founded and led international law firms. I know how businesses in Asia are organised, how decisions are taken there, and what a Chinese or Hong Kong board expects from its Swiss counsel: clear recommendations, reliable timetables and costs agreed in advance. My team includes native speakers of Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese and Korean, and we can be reached on WeChat, WhatsApp, by e-mail and by phone.
The Middle East, Africa and other frontier markets
I lived in Dubai and served as legal counsel to the Government of Dubai, including the drafting of land and land registration legislation for the Dubai International Financial Centre. Among many other cross-border matters, my work has also taken me to coal mining projects in Mongolia, agricultural commodity trading in Ukraine, defence industry public procurement projects in the Middle East and international fertiliser trading in Geneva. For almost ten years I also served as a director of a commodity trading house in the chemical industry based in Geneva. I have also advised commodity traders from West Africa on structuring their business and holding their assets through Switzerland. I understand the practical difficulties that companies from frontier and emerging markets face in Switzerland, from the bank's questions to the expectations of counterparties, and how to resolve them.
Working alongside your lawyers in your home country
On Swiss inbound matters I advise on Swiss law. Advice on the law of your home jurisdiction, whether Hong Kong, mainland China, India, the Gulf or an African state, remains with your lawyers there, and I coordinate closely with them, so that both sides of the transaction move in step. Law firms can refer clients to me with confidence because their client relationship stays protected: I report to them as well as to the client, and I do not approach their clients on any other matter. Naturally, all my work as a Swiss lawyer is covered by strict professional secrecy obligations.
Company formation and group structures
Choice of legal form and canton, formation of the AG or GmbH before the notary, Swiss holding companies for Asian groups, capital contribution reserves, and the tax rulings that make the structure predictable from the first year. Through an affiliated trust company I can provide everything a new Swiss company needs beyond the legal work: tax advice, fiduciary and domiciliation services, accounting and payroll. You receive one coordinated plan and one point of contact.
Commercial contracts and trade
Distribution, agency, supply and joint venture agreements under Swiss law, from the term sheet to the signed contract. For commodity trading houses in Geneva, Zug and Lugano I draft and negotiate offtake and long-term supply agreements, sales contracts on GAFTA and FOSFA terms, tolling, processing, storage and charter arrangements, and the Incoterms that allocate cost and risk between the parties. Trade finance forms part of the same work: documentary letters of credit under UCP 600, demand guarantees and standby letters of credit, borrowing base and transactional facilities, receivables finance, and the pledges and assignments that secure them under Swiss law. I build sanctions, export control and anti-money laundering clauses into the contracts so that they pass the compliance review of the financing bank, and I advise on hedging documentation, on where trading functions should be located and how they are taxed, and on the steps to take when a counterparty defaults. Choice of law and arbitration clauses are drafted so that awards and judgments can be enforced in Switzerland and in your home jurisdiction.
Banking, licences and compliance
Preparing the onboarding file that Swiss banks accept, clarifying whether a business needs a FINMA licence or membership of a self-regulatory organisation, and setting up anti-money laundering, sanctions and export control compliance.
Tax and international tax planning
Swiss corporate and individual taxation, tax rulings, the participation deduction and withholding tax, double taxation treaties with China, Hong Kong and other Asian, Middle Eastern and African states, and international tax planning for groups and their owners, including the OECD minimum tax.
Capital markets and investment
Capital increases and the capital band, private placements within the prospectus exemptions, and listings on SIX Swiss Exchange, including global depositary receipts of companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Owners, families and succession
Relocation of entrepreneurs and their families to Switzerland, lump-sum taxation, trusts and foundations in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and offshore centres, family offices, and the succession planning that a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) brings to family-owned businesses.
Crypto and digital assets
Since 2017 I have advised on the full range of legal work relating to crypto and digital assets. This includes legal opinions on the classification of payment, utility, asset and hybrid tokens under Swiss financial market law; FINMA licensing and membership of a self-regulatory organisation for exchanges, brokers, custodians and asset managers; the set-up and licensing of crypto funds; custody arrangements and the segregation of crypto-assets in bankruptcy; OTC transactions and block trades; and the tokenisation of shares, bonds and real assets as ledger-based securities under the DLT Act. I advise on stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, on DeFi protocols, and on the institutional side of the industry, including banks and asset managers entering the market and the anti-money laundering and travel rule compliance that their regulators expect. My clients have included exchanges, investors, funds and project teams. When things go wrong, I act against fraudulent exchanges and other fraudsters, trace misappropriated assets on the blockchain and apply for freezing orders and attachments in Switzerland and abroad. This experience rests on my affiliation with a large trust company in Zug, the Crypto Valley of Switzerland, and on my earlier practice in Singapore as a Registered Foreign Lawyer and a Hong Kong solicitor with an extensive practice in crypto/digital assets.
- Admissions and qualifications
- Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law (Zurich, Switzerland), entered in the Register of Attorneys of the Canton of Zurich
- Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong
- Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (since 2004)
- Rechtsanwalt (Germany), Frankfurt am Main Bar
- Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP), Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
- Dr. iur., University of Cologne; doctoral thesis on prospectus liability of life insurance companies (2004)
- Practice areas
- Private Clients, Trusts and Legal Family Office
- Tax and Fiduciary Structuring
- Asset Management Regulatory Advice and Anti-Money-Laundering
- Commodity Trading, Sanctions and Export Controls
- Crypto/Digital Assets
- Corporate & Commercial and Strategic Capital
- Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation
- Assets Under Pressure
- China Desk and Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia
Typical mandates include:
- Market entry and company formation in Switzerland
- Group and holding structures for Asian companies
- Commercial contracts, distribution and joint ventures
- Commodity trading and trade finance
- Banking law, bank accounts, licences, anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance
- Swiss and international tax law, including international tax planning
- Capital raising, IPOs and listings
- Crypto assets, tokenisation and digital assets (since 2017)
- Professional directorships
- Private clients, relocation, trusts and foundations in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and offshore centres
- Arbitration and enforcement between Switzerland and Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America
- Associations and network
- Swiss–China Business Law Network (SCBLN) – chairman since 2026.
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) – full member, Zurich branch.
- German-Swiss Lawyers’ Association (DSJV) – for more than ten years its secretary general.
- German-American Lawyers’ Association (DAJV) – five years a member of the board.
These connections provide the notaries, auditors, tax advisers, fiduciaries and local counsel that a Swiss project needs. I know them personally and can involve them at short notice.
- Career
- Rechtsanwalt and Solicitor, Clifford Chance, Frankfurt am Main
- Equity partner of an international law firm, Singapore; founder of law firms in Singapore and Hong Kong
- Legal counsel to the Government of Dubai; drafting of the land and land registration laws of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), together with Professor Peter Butt of the University of Sydney
- Regulatory advice in Singapore
- For almost ten years director of a commodity trading house in the chemical industry based in Geneva
- Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law in Zurich, Ressos Legal
- Languages
- English
- German
- French
- Greek
Within the team: native speakers of Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese and Korean.
- Publications
Monographs, edited works, articles and case notes in German and English, with English translations of German titles in square brackets.
Monographs and edited works
- Prospekthaftung von Lebensversicherungsunternehmen – Grundlagen und Reichweite einer Haftung für prospektartige Verbraucherinformationen bei dem Vertrieb privater Altersvorsorgeprodukte, Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe II: Rechtswissenschaft, vol. 3998, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2004 [Prospectus liability of life insurance companies: foundations and scope of liability for prospectus-type consumer information in the distribution of private pension products] (doctoral thesis).
- (ed.) The Switzerland Islamic Finance Handbook: Islamic Banking and Finance in Switzerland, IBF Institute Ltd., London 2009.
Articles and case notes
- Freezing the Unfreezable: Trust Structures After the CJEU Judgments of 21 May 2026 in T Trust, FZ AR and SX – The retained-powers test, the trustee’s dilemma and the limits of drafting under art. 2(1) of Regulation 269/2014, Private Client Business (P.C.B.) 2026, Issue 4, pp. 144–158.
- Trustees before the Swiss Transparency Register: The TJPG regime from 1 October 2026 in comparative perspective – beneficial ownership, the trustee’s holding obligation and the divergence from the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Asian significant-controller models, Trusts & Trustees 2026, ttag078.
- Contentious trusts: when legacies divide – The court’s supervisory jurisdiction, the integrity of the trust and the limits of settlor control in cross-border family disputes – English, offshore, Hong Kong, Singapore, Swiss and Liechtenstein perspectives, Trusts & Trustees 2026, ttag066.
- Perpetuity periods in modern trust structuring: Law, Practicality and Cross-Border Tensions – A Hong Kong and Geneva Perspective on Dynastic Wealth Planning after Hong Kong’s 2013 Reform and the Cayman Perpetuities (Amendment) Act 2024, Trusts & Trustees 2026, ttag063.
- ADGM, DIFC oder RAK ICC? Ein Entscheidungsrahmen für die Familienstiftung in den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten, Finanz-Rundschau (FR) 2026, pp. 787–794 [ADGM, DIFC or RAK ICC? A decision framework for the family foundation in the United Arab Emirates].
- Legal Privilege in der Cloud – Beschlagnahmefreiheit bei serverbasierter Mandatskommunikation – Zur Reichweite der §§ 97, 160a StPO bei ausgelagerter anwaltlicher Datenhaltung und im Anwendungsbereich der E-Evidence-Verordnung (EU) 2023/1543, Neue Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts-, Steuer- und Unternehmensstrafrecht (NZWiSt) 2026, pp. 402 et seq. [Legal privilege in the cloud: protection from seizure of server-based client communications under §§ 97 and 160a of the German Code of Criminal Procedure and the E-Evidence Regulation (EU) 2023/1543].
- (with Daniela Weber-Rey and Ulrike Mönnich) Lebensversicherung vor Veränderungen, Zeitschrift für Versicherungswesen (ZfV) 2005, pp. 494–496 [Life insurance facing change].
- Anmerkung zu BGH, Urteil vom 14.3.2005 – II ZR 5/03, Der Betrieb (DB) 2005, pp. 1048–1049 [Case note on the judgment of the German Federal Court of Justice of 14 March 2005, II ZR 5/03].
- Finanzvermittlung und Umsatzsteuer: Teilweise Klärung durch das BMF, Betriebs-Berater (BB) 2005, pp. 191–196 [Financial intermediation and VAT: partial clarification by the Federal Ministry of Finance].
- Umsatzsteuerbefreiung für Kreditvermittlung, Betriebs-Berater (BB) 2004, pp. 521–525 [VAT exemption for credit intermediation].
Forthcoming
- Die Abwahl des AGB-Rechts bei deutscher Rechtswahl – Gestaltungsspielräume vor Schiedsgerichten und staatlichen Gerichten nach dem Beschluss des BGH vom 9.1.2025 – I ZB 48/24 und Art. 3 Rom I-VO, Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft (RIW) 2026 [Opting out of German standard terms law under a German choice of law: drafting options before arbitral tribunals and state courts after the Federal Court of Justice decision of 9 January 2025, I ZB 48/24, and Art. 3 Rome I Regulation].
- Das Ende der Krypto-Anonymität – CARF und DAC8 für vermögende Privatpersonen mit Schweizer und asiatischem Bezug, Internationales Steuerrecht (IStR) 2026 [The end of crypto anonymity: CARF and DAC8 for high-net-worth individuals with Swiss and Asian connections].
- Das gestaffelte Ende der Krypto-Anonymität – Tatentdeckung nach § 371 Abs. 2 S. 1 Nr. 2 AO und das jurisdiktionsabhängige Zeitfenster der Selbstanzeige bei Kryptowerten nach CARF, DAC 8 und KStTG, Praxis Steuerstrafrecht (PStR) 2026 [The staggered end of crypto anonymity: discovery of the offence under § 371(2) sentence 1 no. 2 of the German Fiscal Code and the jurisdiction-dependent window for voluntary disclosure of crypto-assets under CARF, DAC 8 and KStTG].
- Marktzugang ohne EU-Lizenz: Reverse Solicitation und Drittstaatenregime unter MiCA nach dem 1. Juli 2026, Betriebs-Berater (BB) 2026 [Market access without an EU licence: reverse solicitation and the third-country regime under MiCA after 1 July 2026].
- Strafrechtliche Leitungsverantwortung beim Einsatz Künstlicher Intelligenz, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 2026 [Criminal responsibility of management for the use of artificial intelligence].
- Der Einsatz von KI bei der Kündigung von Arbeitsverhältnissen – Die Kündigung als höchstpersönliche Arbeitgeberentscheidung: Zurechnung, Wirksamkeit und Beweislast bei KI-gestützter Willensbildung nach Art. 22 DSGVO, Art. 14, 26 KI-VO und § 1 KSchG, Recht der Arbeit (RdA) 2026 [The use of AI in the termination of employment: attribution, validity and burden of proof under Art. 22 GDPR, Arts. 14 and 26 of the AI Act and § 1 of the German Dismissal Protection Act].
- Das Sabbatical aus dem Wertguthaben – weder geleistete Arbeitszeit noch Entgeltfortzahlung (Besprechung von BAG, Urt. v. 28.1.2026 – 5 AZR 189/22), Neue Zeitschrift für Arbeitsrecht (NZA) 2026 [The sabbatical funded from a working-time account: neither working time nor continued remuneration; note on the Federal Labour Court judgment of 28 January 2026, 5 AZR 189/22].
- Vom Abgabenrecht zum Sicherheitsrecht – die Funktionsverschiebung des Steuerrechts: Über die Metamorphose der Besteuerung vom Instrument der Staatsfinanzierung zum Instrument innerer und äußerer Sicherheit, Deutsches Steuerrecht (DStR) 2026 [From the law of levies to security law: how taxation is changing from an instrument of public finance into an instrument of internal and external security].
- Das Skalenmodell der Wirksamkeit – Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Lehre der Unwirksamkeitsgrade im Allgemeinen Teil des BGB, Zeitschrift für die gesamte Privatrechtswissenschaft (ZfPW) 2026 [The scale model of validity: towards a general theory of degrees of invalidity in the General Part of the German Civil Code].
Practitioner handbooks, articles and videos
Practitioner handbooks on export control, contract law and commodity trading, articles on Swiss and international business law, and short videos on doing business in Switzerland. They are listed on the front page as they are published.
