Bank term in Swiss law
A bank for the pragmatic definition of Swiss law is who is subject to Swiss banking law. It combines banks, private bankers and savings banks under the term banks, and thus includes the entire Swiss banking system . The core element of banking activity is the commercial acceptance of deposits from the public. The main goal of legal regulations is to protect investors. A banking license must be available to commence banking business. In addition to the licensing requirements of the Banking Act, the extended information obligations and minimum requirements according to the National Bank Act must also be observed at all times.
Approval requirements include a .:
- Administrative organization appropriate to the business activity
- The elimination of the management bodies corresponding to the business purpose and scope of the business
- The elimination of independent supervisory and control bodies, so that proper supervision of the management is guaranteed
- The persons entrusted with the administration and management of the bank must enjoy a good reputation and guarantee that business operations will run smoothly
Further prerequisites for performing banking activities are:
- The bank must have adequate own funds and liquidity.
- There must be no cluster risks that could endanger the existence of the company, d. H. a bank's loans to a single customer, as well as its holdings in a single company, must be proportionate to its own resources.
- A cover fund must be fed from the annual net profit to cover losses and to undertake write-offs.
- In addition to the Code of Obligations, the accounting and the annual report are subject to the special provisions of the Banking Act.
The business activities of the banks are continuously monitored by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which replaced the Swiss Federal Banking Commission as the supervisory authority at the beginning of 2009 . In order to safeguard the general economic interest, banks are subject to special instructions from FINMA to avert the risk of insolvency in cases of justified concern about overindebtedness.