From CDB 77 to CDB 20: self-regulation becomes law

Five-year cycles: CDB 82 and CDB 87

The agreement of 1977 was concluded for five years, and its renewal in five-year cycles became the method by which the banks adapted it to new problems.¹ The first revision entered into force on 1 October 1982, again for a fixed term of five years, with the National Bank and the Bankers Association still as parties. The Federal Banking Commission described it as an agreement that "defines the banker's duty of diligence in the handling of individual banking transactions" and treated it as a practical tool for applying the guarantee requirement of Article 3(2)(c) of the Banking Act.² The CDB 82 narrowed the circle of professionals who could withhold the identity of beneficial owners. Under its Article 6, the privilege was reserved to lawyers, notaries and those fiduciaries who belonged to the associations affiliated with the Swiss Chamber of Fiduciaries and Auditors, which excluded the members of the independent fiduciaries' association and led to the Federal Court case of 1983.³

The CDB 87, dated 1 July 1987 and in force from 1 October 1987, continued the system without the National Bank, which had terminated the earlier agreement with effect from the end of September 1987. The Federal Banking Commission therefore described it as a purely private convention of the banks.⁴ Its most debated feature was Form B, the declaration with which a holder of professional secrecy under Article 5, acting as a lawyer or notary or as a fiduciary or asset manager, confirmed that he held an account for a client whose identity he was not permitted to disclose. For the fiduciary and legal professions of Lugano, many of whose members administered domiciliary companies for Italian clients, Form B was of considerable practical importance. It allowed the bank to accept an account without knowing the beneficial owner, provided a Swiss professional stood in between.

Money laundering enters the code, 1990–1992

The criminalization of money laundering changed the basis of the agreement. On 1 August 1990 the amendments to the Swiss Criminal Code entered into force that made intentional money laundering (Article 305bis) and lack of due diligence in financial transactions (Article 305ter) criminal offences.⁵ Article 305ter punishes any person who, in the course of business, accepts, holds, invests or helps to transfer assets belonging to a third party and fails to establish the identity of the beneficial owner with the care that the circumstances require. With this provision the core duty of the CDB became a criminal law obligation for all financial intermediaries, banks and nonbanks alike.

Form B could not survive this change. The Federal Banking Commission expressed "considerable doubts" about whether the use of Form B was compatible with Article 305ter even before that provision entered into force, and a statistical survey showed that the form had not reduced the number of anonymous beneficial owner designations. The Commission prohibited the use of Form B by its Circular 91/1 of 25 April 1991 and granted banks a transitional period until the end of September 1992 to establish the beneficial owners concerned by means of Form A or another written declaration.⁶ The CDB 92, dated 1 July 1992 and in force from 1 October 1992 between the Bankers Association and the signatory banks, accordingly abolished Form B and took over the exception contained in the circular. Holders of professional secrecy retained a narrower exception, now documented on Form R, with which lawyers and notaries confirm that the mandate is of a lawyer's nature or falls within an exhaustive list of categories, so that it does not cover accounts held for the asset management of clients.⁷

Notes

1. SBA, Commentary on the Agreement … (CDB 20) (above) (CDB in existence since 1977, revised in five-year cycles); SBA, Tätigkeitsberichte der Aufsichtskommission zur VSB 2001–2005 (above), 2 (original VSB of 1 July 1977, revised five times by 2003). ↩
2. BGE 109 Ib 146 (above) ("Die revidierte Vereinbarung trat auf den 1. Oktober 1982 in Kraft und gilt für eine feste Laufzeit von fünf Jahren"); EBK, Jahresbericht 1982 (above), 27–28 ("Die Vereinbarung umschreibt die Sorgfaltspflicht des Bankiers bei der Abwicklung einzelner Bankgeschäfte"). ↩
3. BGE 109 Ib 146 (above) (request of the Schweizerischer Treuhänder-Verband that its members be treated "gleich wie die Mitglieder der Schweizerischen Treuhand- und Revisionskammer"). ↩
4. EBK, Jahresbericht 1987 , 25, https://finma.ch/FinmaArchiv/ebk/d/publik/bericht/pdf/jb87.pdf ("Am 1. Oktober 1987 trat die neue Vereinbarung über die Standesregeln der Banken vom 1. Juli 1987 … in Kraft"; the earlier agreement "von der Nationalbank auf Ende September 1987 gekündigt"; "Die VSB 87 ist nach dem Ausscheiden der Nationalbank eine rein privatrechtliche Konvention der Banken"; Form B for professionals acting "als Anwalt oder Notar bzw. als Treuhänder oder Vermögensverwalter"). ↩
5. EBK, Jahresbericht 1990 (above), 21; Swiss Criminal Code, SR 311.0, Art. 305bis, inserted by the Federal Act of 23 March 1990 (in force since 1 August 1990), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/3/31/311.0-305bis-372.html, and Art. 305ter(1) ("Any person who as part of his profession accepts, holds on deposit, or assists in investing or transferring outside assets and fails to ascertain the identity of the beneficial owner of the assets with the care that is required in the circumstances"), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/3/31/311.0-305ter-373.html. ↩
6. EBK, Jahresbericht 1990 (above), 22–23 ("erhebliche Zweifel"; transitional period until "Ende September 1992"); EBK, Jahresbericht 1992 (above), 35 (Circular 91/1 of 25 April 1991). ↩
7. EBK, Jahresbericht 1992 , 35, https://finma.ch/FinmaArchiv/ebk/d/publik/bericht/pdf/jb92.pdf ("Am 1. Oktober 1992 trat die neue Vereinbarung über die Standesregeln der Banken vom 1. Juli 1992 zwischen der Schweizerischen Bankiervereinigung und den unterzeichnenden Banken in Kraft (VSB 92)"; EBK Circular 91/1 of 25 April 1991; Form R for lawyers and notaries whose mandate is "anwaltlicher Natur" or falls under "einer der abschliessend aufgeführten Rubriken"). Form R in its present scope is regulated in CDB 20, Art. 36 (above), and was regulated in CDB 08, Art. 5, margin no. 46 (above). ↩

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.