The persons subject to the Act

Financial intermediaries

Article 2 AMLA distinguishes two groups of financial intermediaries. The first group, listed in paragraph 2, consists of institutions that are financial intermediaries by virtue of their licence: banks, portfolio managers, trustees, managers of collective assets, fund management companies, investment companies with variable or fixed capital, insurance institutions active in direct life insurance or selling units of collective investment schemes, securities firms, central counterparties and central securities depositories, payment systems, trading facilities for distributed ledger technology securities, casinos and organisers of large-scale gambling. For these institutions the Act applies to their whole activity.¹

The second group, defined in paragraph 3, is functional. It consists of persons who professionally accept, hold on deposit or assist in investing or transferring assets belonging to others. The Act gives examples: credit business, payment services, trading for third parties in banknotes and coins, money market instruments, foreign exchange, precious metals, commodities and securities, investment advice, and the safekeeping or management of securities. The crucial element is the power of disposal over third-party assets. A person who merely advises without any such power is not a financial intermediary under paragraph 3, which is why the reform of 2025 had to create a separate category for advisers. The Federal Council’s ordinance defines when the activity is carried out professionally. The criteria are gross revenue of more than CHF 50,000 in a calendar year, business relationships with more than twenty contracting parties, an unlimited power of disposal over third-party assets exceeding CHF 5 million or transactions exceeding CHF 2 million in total in a calendar year.²

The functional definition has made the SRO system the entry point for a large part of Zurich’s financial innovation. A fintech company that offers payment services or a crypto broker that exchanges tokens against francs becomes a financial intermediary under paragraph 3 and must join an SRO before starting business. In the crypto sector the FINMA practice adds requirements that go beyond the FATF standard. Swiss institutions must establish that an external wallet from which or to which a client transfers crypto-assets belongs to the client, whatever the amount. They may use cryptographic signatures, small test transfers or documented declarations for this purpose.³ Since 2023 FINMA has also required technical safeguards ensuring that crypto exchange transactions with a client without a business relationship do not exceed CHF 1,000 within thirty days.⁴ Part J treats the regulation of crypto-assets in detail.

Dealers

Since 1 January 2016 the Act has also applied to dealers, that is, natural and legal persons who trade in goods on a commercial basis and accept cash in payment. A dealer who receives more than CHF 100,000 in cash in a single transaction, or in several instalments that appear to be linked, must identify the contracting party, establish the beneficial owner and document the transaction. If there are indications of money laundering, the dealer must clarify the background of the transaction and report a well-founded suspicion. The dealer must also have an auditor check compliance with these duties.⁵ The threshold was a political compromise. Parliament replaced a proposal of the Federal Council for a general prohibition of cash payments above CHF 100,000 in purchases of movable property and real estate with due diligence duties for dealers who choose to accept cash.⁶

In practice few dealers submit to these duties, because most prefer to refuse cash payments above the threshold. The rule nonetheless matters for the luxury trade of the Bahnhofstrasse, for car and art dealers and for the precious metals trade. As explained below, the reform of 2025 lowers the threshold for precious metals and precious stones to CHF 15,000 and subjects cash payments in real estate transactions to due diligence whatever their amount. Zurich’s watch and jewellery retailers, auction houses and gold dealers therefore face tighter rules from October 2026.

Notes

1. PwC, Bekämpfung der Geldwäscherei und der Terrorismusfinanzierung in der Schweiz, 5th edition (Zurich 2020), https://www.pwc.ch/de/publications/2020/handbuch-geldwaeschereigesetz_5.auflage.pdf, commentary on Article 2 AMLA. ↩
2. Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance (AMLO), SR 955.01, Art. 7 para. 1 lit. a–d (gross revenue of more than CHF 50,000 per calendar year; business relationships with more than 20 contracting parties per calendar year that are not limited to a one-off activity, or at least 20 such relationships maintained; unlimited power of disposal over third-party assets exceeding CHF 5 million at any time; transactions exceeding CHF 2 million in total per calendar year), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-fr/9/95/955.01-7-10.html. ↩
3. Goldblum, “Travel Rule Schweiz: VASP-Pflichten & GwG”, https://goldblum.ch/de/krypto/vasp-travel-rule/. The page explains that this Swiss requirement, derived from FINMA Guidance 02/2019 on payments on the blockchain, applies regardless of the transfer amount, whereas the FATF standard uses a threshold of USD or EUR 1,000. ↩
4. FINMA, “Money laundering supervision (2022)”, https://www.finma.ch/en/documentation/dossier/dossier-geldwaeschereibekaempfung/geldwaeschereiaufsicht-2022/. FINMA also describes new methods of verifying wallet ownership, including a time-boxed transfer procedure. ↩
5. law.ch, LAWINFO, “Neuerungen Geldwäschereigesetz (GwG)”, https://law.ch/lawinfo/geldwaescherei-geldwaeschereigesetz/die-revidierten-empfehlungen-der-gafi-fatf-und-das-schweizer-bundesge-setz-zu-deren-umsetzung/betrachtung-der-geaenderten-bundesgesetze/neuerungen-geldwaeschereigesetz-gwg/. The page summarises the changes made by the Federal Act of 12 December 2014 on the implementation of the revised FATF Recommendations. ↩
6. Année politique suisse, dossier “Geldwäschereigesetz”, https://anneepolitique.swiss/dossiers/52-geldwaschereigesetz.pdf, entries on business 13.106 (implementation of the revised FATF Recommendations): the Federal Council proposed that cash payments above CHF 100,000 for purchases of movable property and real estate should no longer be permitted, while the act adopted on 12 December 2014 imposed enhanced due diligence duties on dealers accepting cash of CHF 100,000 or more. ↩

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.