LegaFund Insights
Research, legal finance, and private capital perspectives with Swiss institutional rigor.
The Financial Institutions Act and Financial Services Act fundamentally change the regulatory landscape for trustees in Switzerland — with direct implications for retrocession obligations.
Inflation-linked bonds promise to preserve purchasing power. Yet between the instrument's real yield and the return that reaches the investor lies a cost layer that is rarely disclosed in full.
Retrocessions on fund products create systemic conflicts of interest. An analysis shows how the practice works and why a ban is being debated.
From Reuters to Forbes to NZZ: a curated collection of the most important media coverage on retrocessions, kickbacks, and hidden commissions in Swiss finance.
The STEP Journal article by Martin Straub quantifies the 'Retro Drag' — the cumulative performance impact of hidden commissions on investor portfolios over 20 years.
Hidden commissions create systematic conflicts of interest between investors and asset managers. An NZZ analysis shows why transparency is the only antidote.
Professional debt collection is a compliance discipline. This post highlights what “serious” looks like: data minimisation, respectful messaging, clear evidence and robust vendor governance.
Most cases are won or lost before formal enforcement. We outline a practical, respectful playbook: documentation, timing, negotiation and when to escalate — with an eye on recovery rates and reputation.
Execution-only remains the central open question. We summarise cantonal divergence, doctrinal debates (conflict prevention vs ‘general enrichment’), boundary questions on genuine services, and the supervisory/civil-law interface highlighted by Abegglen.
From 1 January 2025, debt enforcement for certain registered debtors can proceed as bankruptcy. We summarise the change at a high level and what it implies for early, fair collection practices.
A practical playbook for banks and clients: govern retrocessions as incentive risk, segment relationship types, implement court-accepted disclosure, document waivers and repapering, and operationalise client inquiries—grounded in Abegglen’s 2024 reading.
BFS time series show a clear rise in formal enforcement. We highlight the 2024 YoY changes and the longer-term trend — and explain what you can (and cannot) infer from the data.