Know your customer today: the practitioner's view after Chiasso

The statutory duties under Articles 3 to 8 AMLA

The relationship manager who opens an account in Lugano today works within a statutory framework whose architecture still reflects the agreement of 1977. The Anti- Money Laundering Act sets out the due diligence duties of financial intermediaries in its second chapter. Article 3 AMLA requires the verification of the identity of the contracting party on the basis of a conclusive document when a business relationship is established. Article 4 AMLA requires the financial intermediary to establish, with the care that the circumstances require, the identity of the beneficial owner and, for operating legal entities, of the controlling person. Article 5 AMLA requires the repetition of these steps when doubts arise during the relationship about the identity of the contracting party or the beneficial owner.¹ These three articles are the provisions that the CDB 20 expressly declares it implements in detail.²

The following articles go beyond the original agreement. Article 6 AMLA obliges the financial intermediary to identify the type and purpose of the business relationship and to clarify the economic background and purpose of a transaction or relationship if it appears unusual, if there are indications that assets derive from a crime or a qualified tax offence, or if the relationship carries a higher risk. Article 7 AMLA requires documentation of the transactions and of the clarifications made, in such a way that experts can form a reliable judgement and the records can be produced to the authorities. Article 8 AMLA requires the financial intermediary to take the organizational measures needed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, in particular adequate training of staff and internal controls.³ The revision of the AMLA in force since 1 January 2023 added an explicit duty to verify the identity of the beneficial owner and a duty to check periodically that client data are up to date.⁴ When the clarifications under Article 6 lead to a well-founded suspicion, Article 9 AMLA requires a report to MROS, a duty that has no equivalent in the agreement of 1977.

FINMA's fact sheet on due diligence summarizes these duties for a general audience: financial intermediaries must establish the identity of the client and of the beneficial owner of the assets, must refuse relationships with persons linked to criminal or terrorist organizations, and must "clarify the economic background and the purpose of a transaction" when it appears unusual or when there are indications of criminal origin. Higher risks arise in particular from relationships with clients from high-risk countries and with politically exposed persons.⁵

Notes

1. AMLA (above), Art. 3(1) ("verify the identity of the customer on the basis of a document of evidentiary value"), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-3-7.html; Art. 4, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-4-8.html; Art. 5, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-5-9.html; in the version in force since 1 January 2023. The CDB 20, Art. 2 (above), confirms that Arts 3 to 5 AMLA govern identification, establishment of the beneficial owner and repetition. ↩
2. CDB 20 (above), Art. 2 ("to give specific effect to certain points of due diligence governed by the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Article 3 to 5 AMLA)"). ↩
3. AMLA (above), Art. 6, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-6-10.html; Art. 7, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-7-11.html; Art. 8 ("They must in particular ensure that their staff receive adequate training and that checks are carried out"), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-8-13.html; Art. 9, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/9/95/955.0-9-15.html. The duty to clarify unusual transactions is confirmed in general terms by FINMA's fact sheet (below). ↩
4. SBA, "Combating money laundering" (above) (revised AMLA in force on 1 January 2023); AMLA (above), Art. 4(1) ("identify the beneficial owner … and verify its identity") and Art. 7(1bis) ("periodically check the required records to ensure that they are up to date"), both as amended by the Federal Act of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 January 2023. ↩
5. FINMA, fact sheet "Combating money laundering: due diligence requirements" (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.