Notes on usage
Sustainable finance
| French | English | Deutsch | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alignement climatique | climate alignment | Klimaausrichtung | compatibility of a portfolio with a climate objective |
| Critères ESG | ESG criteria | ESG-Kriterien | environmental, social and governance criteria |
| Écoblanchiment (greenwashing) | greenwashing | Greenwashing | misleading presentation of sustainability credentials |
| Financement mixte | blended finance | Mischfinanzierung | combination of public and private capital |
| Investissement d’impact | impact investing | Impact Investing | investment seeking a measurable effect and a return |
| Obligation verte | green bond | grüne Anleihe | bond earmarked for environmental expenditure |
| Préférences de durabilité | sustainability preferences | Nachhaltigkeitspräferenzen | client wishes gathered during advice |
| Rapport climatique | climate report | Klimaberichterstattung | mandatory disclosure by large companies since 2024 |
| Swiss Climate Scores | Swiss Climate Scores | Swiss Climate Scores | climate transparency indicators launched in 2022 |
Language and International Geneva
| French | English | Deutsch | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accord de siège | headquarters agreement | Sitzabkommen | agreement establishing the status of an organisation in Switzerland |
| Arbitrage | arbitration | Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit | private settlement of disputes by arbitrators |
| Clause de prévalence | prevailing language clause | Vorrangklausel | designation of the authoritative version |
| Corédaction | co-drafting | Koredaktion | parallel drafting of legislative texts in several languages |
| Francophonie | Francophonie | Frankophonie | the community of French-speaking people and states |
| Genève internationale | International Geneva | internationales Genf | the organisations and missions established in Geneva taken as a whole |
| Langue officielle | official language | Amtssprache | language of the authorities, French in Geneva |
| Traducteur-juré | sworn translator | vereidigter Übersetzer | translator authorised to certify translations |
| Zone franc | CFA franc zone | Franc-Zone | African states sharing the CFA franc |
Notes on usage
A few terms call for a word of warning. The English term private banking denotes a commercial activity, whereas the Swiss “banquier privé” (private banker) denotes a legal status founded on unlimited liability, as Part D explained; the literal translation misleads. The “commerce de transit” (merchanting) of Swiss statistics does not correspond to the “négoce” (commodity trading) of the Federal Statistical Office’s statistics, and Part G showed that the resulting figures differ by a factor of three. “Secret bancaire” was never an absolute secret, and its English equivalent banking secrecy evokes an opacity that contemporary Swiss law no longer knows. Finally, the expression “cryptoactifs et Digital Assets” (crypto-assets and digital assets), adopted in the book, combines the official French term with international usage; federal law speaks of “cryptoactifs” and “droits-valeurs inscrits” (ledger-based securities), practice of digital assets. Readers who work in several languages will do well to check, for each term, the legal definition applicable in the jurisdiction concerned.
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.