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Client Advisor Register

Client Advisor Register under FinSA: Registration Duty for Client Advisers in Switzerland

Overview

Under Art. 28 FinSA (FIDLEG), client advisers of Swiss financial service providers not supervised under Art. 3 FINMASA (FINMAG), as well as client advisers of foreign financial service providers, may only carry out activities in Switzerland if they are entered in a client adviser register.
The client adviser register is maintained by a registration office pursuant to Art. 31 FinSA, which itself requires FINMA approval. FinSA has been in force since 1 January 2020.

Who must register?

Client advisers (natural persons) who provide financial services on behalf of a financial service provider or in their own name—e.g., distribution of collective investment schemes in the Swiss market—must be entered in an adviser register.
The registration duty also applies to client advisers of foreign financial service providers, even if they belong to a group supervised by FINMA, unless they provide services in Switzerland exclusively to professional or institutional clients.

When must registration occur?

The client adviser register entry must be completed before providing financial services in Switzerland or to clients domiciled in Switzerland. Based on the wording of FinSA, the duty generally extends to any client physically present in Switzerland.

Practical implications

  • No register entry = no activity in Switzerland.

  • Applies to domestic and foreign providers; group supervision alone does not remove the duty (exception: exclusively professional/institutional clientele).

  • Implement compliance processes to assess register obligations and ensure timely registration.

Tasks of the client advisor register

The registration office shall decide on the entries and deletions in the client advisor register and issue the necessary decrees.

Registered client advisors and the financial services provider for whom they work must notify the registration office of all changes to the facts underlying the registration.

The competent supervisory authorities shall notify the registration office if they:

  • prohibit registered client advisors from carrying out any activity or profession; or
  • become aware that a criminal conviction has been handed down against registered client advisors.

If the registration office becomes aware that a client advisor no longer fulfils a registration requirement, it shall delete the client advisor from the register.

The data in the advisor register are public and are made accessible by the registration office in a retrieval procedure.

Requirements for entry in the Advisor Register

The prerequisites for entry in the advisor register are sufficient knowledge of the rules of conduct under FinSA, the specialist knowledge required for the business activity, the conclusion of a professional liability insurance policy or the existence of an equivalent security, connection to an ombudsman, no entry due to criminal offences against assets under the Swiss Penal Code and no ban on activity or profession imposed by FINMA. The advisor register will have a certain discretion as to whether a client advisor has sufficient knowledge of the rules of conduct under FinSA and the specialist knowledge required for the activity. When registering, the client advisor will therefore have to prove, by means of documents and possibly also on the basis of an oral interview, that he possesses the necessary knowledge and skills.

Client advisors shall be entered in the Advisor Register if they provide evidence that they:

have sufficient knowledge of the FinSA rules of conduct and of the expertise required for their work;

have taken out professional liability insurance or equivalent financial security; and

are themselves affiliated as financial service providers or the financial service provider for whom they work with an ombudsman pursuant to Art. 74 FinSA

Published Information

The Register of Advisors shall publish the following information on the client advisors:

surname and first name;

name or company name and address of the financial service provider for whom they work;

Function and position of the client advisor within the organisation;

the fields of activity;

the education and training completed;

the ombudsman service to which they themselves are affiliated as financial service providers or the financial service provider for which they work;

date of entry in the register.

When do client advisors need to register in a Client Advisor Register?

BX Swiss became the first registration office to be authorised by FINMA as of 20 July 2020. Pursuant to Art. 28 para. 1 FinSA, client advisors who are subject to the registration obligation may only exercise their activity in Switzerland if they are registered in a Client Advisor Register.

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    Seit 2020 führt die BX Swiss AG im Rahmen des schweizerischen Bundesgesetzes über die Finanzdienstleistungen (FIDLEG) eine FINMA zugelassene Prüfstelle für Prospekte und ein Beraterregister.

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    BX Swiss AG
    Talstrasse 70
    CH-8001 Zürich

    +41 31 329 40 55
    [email protected]

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