Interdependence and its risks

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The members of this ecosystem are interdependent. The custodian banks depend on asset managers and family offices for part of their assets. The asset managers depend on the banks for their infrastructure. Lawyers, fiduciaries and trustees depend on the banks to open accounts for the structures they create. The family offices depend on all the others for the services they coordinate.

This interdependence creates synergies, but also shared risks. A compliance failure at one intermediary can contaminate the banks with which it works. The international data leaks have shown that structures created by Geneva intermediaries could implicate the financial centre as a whole.¹ The banks have therefore tightened their requirements towards the intermediaries with which they work: verification of their licence, their procedures and their reputation, and refusal of relationships that present excessive risks.

Regulation has accompanied this development. The licensing of asset managers and trustees, the extension of the Anti-Money Laundering Act to advisers and the transparency register are intended precisely to ensure that all members of the ecosystem observe comparable standards. The financial centre gains in credibility, at the price of greater complexity and a selection among the actors.

Notes

Swissinfo, 10 May 2016: at least 1,339 Swiss intermediaries appear in the Panama Papers, which places Switzerland among the top five countries (Hong Kong 4,902, United Kingdom 2,106, United States 1,540), for more than 34,000 companies created; Public Eye, press release of 6 April 2016: Switzerland ranks second behind Hong Kong among the clients of Mossack Fonseca, with more than 37,000 Panamanian companies, i.e. more than one sixth of the entities recorded by the ICIJ, four banks supervised by FINMA being among the clients; Public Eye points out that the AMLA applies to lawyers only where they have access to client funds. ↩

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 September 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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Interdependence and its risks

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?