Investing into Europe through Switzerland

Corporate structures, tax and compliance for Russian and Asian investors.

What the book covers

Investors from Russia, the CIS region and Asia who want to hold, acquire or operate assets in Europe need a structure that banks will finance, regulators will clear and counterparties will accept, and that still stands up years later. Switzerland offers a stable company law, a dense treaty network, a strong currency and a financial infrastructure used to international families. It also carries obligations in equal measure: sanctions screening, evidenced source of wealth, and investment screening in the state where the investment is made.

The book follows the order in which these questions arise in practice. Sanctions, source of wealth and investment screening come first, because a structure that fails any of them fails entirely. The Swiss platform, the company and its substance, the taxation of the structure, banking and custody, real estate and operating investments, and the family, from residence to succession, follow.

Every structure discussed is a lawful one, documented so that anyone entitled to ask can see why it works. The book does not describe ways of obscuring ownership or circumventing sanctions.

For whom

The book is written for investors and family offices from Russia, the CIS region and Asia, and for the bankers, tax advisers and lawyers who accompany them on investments into Switzerland and the European Union.

The author

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP, is a Rechtsanwalt and attorney-at-law entered in the Zurich Register of Attorneys, and a solicitor in England and Wales and in Hong Kong.