Advisers, lawyers and the limits of professional secrecy

The extension of the AMLA to advisers

The second statute that entered into force on 1 October 2026 is the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act. Its most controversial element was the extension of due diligence duties to persons who advise on and organize transactions with a high risk of money laundering without holding or moving client assets themselves. Under the new Art. 2 para. 3bis AMLA, advisers fall within the Act when they professionally assist in certain transactions. These are the purchase and sale of real estate, the formation of nonoperative Swiss entities or of any foreign entity and the management of non-operative entities. They also include capital contributions to and withdrawals from such entities and the purchase or sale of entities through non-operative structures. Art. 2 para. 3ter adds the provision of an address or premises as the registered office of a company for more than six months.¹ The definition targets the services that Lugano lawyers and fiduciaries have offered to Italian clients for decades: the formation of a holding company, the provision of a domicile and the acquisition of a lakeside property through a company.

The activity is professional when the adviser earns more than CHF 50,000 in gross revenue per year from it or advises more than 20 clients or takes part in more than 20 transactions per year. It is also professional when he can reasonably expect client assets above CHF 5 million or annual transaction volumes above CHF 2 million (Art. 12f AMLO).² The duties correspond to those of financial intermediaries: identification of the contracting party (Art. 3 AMLA), establishment of the beneficial owner (Art. 4 AMLA), documentation (Art. 7 AMLA), clarification of the purpose of the business relationship (Art. 8b AMLA) and internal organization and training (Art. 8d AMLA). Advisers must join a self-regulatory organization, which supervises compliance and sets out the duties in its regulations. Existing advisers had to apply for membership by 1 December 2026 and may serve only existing clients until their admission.³

The parliamentary compromise on lawyers

The debate in Parliament turned on the professional secrecy of lawyers and notaries. The Federal Council had estimated that about 3,000 persons would be subject to the new duties. Parliament reduced the circle, among other things by excluding audit firms. In the real estate field the Council of States favoured a minimum transaction value of CHF 5 million, while the National Council voted for CHF 3 million. The National Council adopted the adviser duties in September 2025 by 116 votes to 75 with 5 abstentions. A member of its committee, Philipp Matthias Bregy, defended the compromise with the argument that secrecy must remain protected when lawyers and notaries deal with family law, inheritance contracts or small property transfers.⁴

The result is a split regime for reporting suspicions. A general adviser must report to MROS when he knows or has reasonable grounds to suspect that assets involved in the transaction derive from a crime or a qualified tax offence. The same applies when they are connected with terrorist financing or subject to the power of disposal of a criminal organization. Lawyers and notaries must file a report only when they themselves carry out a relevant financial transaction in the name or on behalf of a client, and only for information that is not protected by professional secrecy (Art. 9 para. 2 AMLA).⁵ In practice the lawyer who structures an Italian family's holding company must identify the client and the beneficial owner and document the transaction. He does not have to report his suspicions about the origin of funds that he learns in the course of legal advice.

Notes

1. Michèle Landtwing Leupi, Handlungsbedarf unter dem revidierten Geldwäschereigesetz, 7 July 2026, https://media.vertec.com/filer_public/2e/96/2e96ef5e-d35e-43a9-bfa8-5c2b66f7bde3/260708_handlungsbedarf_unter_dem_revidierten_geldwaschereigesetz.pdf, on Art. 2 para. 3bis and 3ter of the Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of 10 October 1997 (Anti-Money Laundering Act, AMLA), SR 955.0, as amended. ↩
2. Landtwing Leupi (above), on Art. 12f of the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance of 11 November 2015 (AMLO), SR 955.01, as amended. ↩
3. Landtwing Leupi (above), on the duties and on the transitional deadline of 1 December 2026 (Art. 14 para. 1bis AMLA). ↩
4. Swiss Parliament, news of 11 September 2025 (above). ↩
5. Landtwing Leupi (above), on Art. 9 para. 1ter lit. a and Art. 9 para. 2 AMLA: "Anwälte und Notare müssen nur eine Verdachtsmeldung einreichen, wenn sie eine relevante Finanztransaktion im Namen oder für Rechnung eines Klienten ausführen". ↩

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.