V&G Trustee was born from the desire to increase its skills together, in order to be able to offer an increasingly sophisticated clientele a 360-degree consultancy service in the fields of succession, protection, governance and generational transition, taking advantage of the flexibility that the legal institution of the Trustee Swiss is able to offer.
“In a moment of strong change in the sector of independent managers and trustee companies, accelerated by the new FINMA regulations, underlines Antonio MandraWe are convinced that the union of skills and objectives is the optimal choice to offer our customers increasingly qualified services for families and businesses".
“The experiences and skills of V&G Trustees in the world of Trusts, says the Lawyer Fabio Gaggini, allow us to exploit the multiplicity of uses that this legal institution of Anglo-Saxon origin incorporates, as a fundamental tool for personal and professional protection aimed at an increasingly uncertain and complex future".
To date, Switzerland does not have trust law as such, which is why foreign trusts are commonly used, which constitute a widely spread legal and economic reality and are fully recognized in Switzerland since the entry into force of the Hague Convention. (2007). Even if it is primarily a legal institution of common law countries, its roots lie in Roman law and many countries, with a civil tradition, have introduced similar instruments into their national systems over the years (fiducie, Treuhand).
Last January 2022, an initial project was established by the Swiss Parliament to study the best way to include the Trust in the Swiss Code of Obligations, consisting of two working groups made up of internal and external specialists, one specialized in civil law and the other in tax law. The regulations were also subjected to a regulatory impact analysis to verify the economic consequences of the introduction of a Trust regulated by Swiss law. The project is still under discussion in which some V&G Trustee experts are also participating.
The activity of Trustee in Switzerland is regulated by the LisFI (Financial Institutions Law), which came into force on 1 January 2020, which shows that professional Trustees are subject to a license and operate under the supervision of FINMA. Furthermore, the Trustees must have adequate capitalization, internal control systems and adequate risk management, as well as the presence of qualified managers who deal with the management of the trusts. The Trustee in Switzerland must also fulfill due diligence obligations under the Money Laundering Act (AMLA) under the supervision of various supervisory bodies. These provisions comply with European regulations and FATF recommendations. Swiss Trustees must also comply with international tax compliance regulations relating to the automatic exchange of information. The Swiss Trustee benefits from the advantages of proximity, culture and language typical of Switzerland itself, a multilingual and multicultural country at the center of Europe. Drafting the Trust Deed in the language of the settlor is an incredible strong point for the benefit of the beneficiaries themselves today and in the future. Compared to international Trustees, who are based in all parts of the world, the Swiss Trustee makes proximity and contact with the settlor, the protector and the beneficiaries its strong point, supporting them in the establishment phase and in the life of the trust itself , in order to identify from time to time the new needs of the settlor, respectively of the beneficiaries, that may emerge.
