Financial Services Act (FinSA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only, has no legal force and may not be relied on in legal proceedings.
Chapter 1 Mediation
Art. 74 Principle
Disputes regarding legal claims between the client and the financial service provider should be settled by an ombudsman in mediation proceedings if possible.
Art. 75 Procedure
1 The proceedings before the ombudsman must be straightforward, fair, quick, impartial and inexpensive or free of charge for the client. 2 The proceedings are confidential. The statements made by the parties within the framework of mediation proceedings and the correspondence between a party and the ombudsman may not be used in other proceedings. 3 The parties are not entitled to view the ombudsman's correspondence with the other party. 4 A mediation request is permissible at any time if: a. it was submitted in accordance with the ombudsman's rules of procedure or using the form provided by the ombudsman; b. the client credibly proves that they previously informed the financial service provider of their point of view and attempted to reach an agreement; c. it is not obviously vexatious, and mediation proceedings have not already been conducted in the same matter; and d. the case is not being or has not been dealt with by a conciliation authority or by a court, court of arbitration or a
Art. 76 Interdependence with conciliation proceedings and other proceedings
1 Filing a mediation request with an ombudsman does not rule out civil action and does not prevent such from being initiated. 2 After bringing proceedings before an ombudsman, the plaintiff may unilaterally waive conciliation proceedings under the Civil Procedure Code. 3 The ombudsman shall terminate proceedings once a conciliation authority, a court, a court of arbitration or an administrative authority begins dealing with the case.
Para. 2 — SR 272
Chapter 2 Duties of Financial Service Providers
Art. 77 Duty to affiliate
Financial service providers that do not provide financial services exclusively to institutional or professional clients in accordance with Article 4 paragraphs 3 and 4 must affiliate to an ombudsman at the latest on commencing their activity.
Art. 77 — Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 25 Sept. 2020 on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology, in force since 1 Feb. 2021 (AS 2021 33; BBl 2020 233).
Art. 78 Duty to participate
1 Financial service providers that are affected by a mediation request to an ombudsman for dispute resolution must participate in the proceedings. 2 They must respond promptly to summonses, requests for comments, and any enquiries from ombudsman's offices.
Art. 79 Duty to provide information
1 Financial service providers shall inform their clients about the possibility of mediation proceedings through an ombudsman: a. on entering into a business relationship in accordance with the duty to provide information under Article 8 paragraph 1 letter c; b. in the event of the rejection of a legal claim asserted by a client; and c. at any time upon request. 2 The information shall be given in an appropriate form and contain the name and address of the ombudsman's office to which the financial service provider is affiliated.
Art. 80 Financial participation
Financial service providers shall make financial contributions to the ombudsman's office to which they are affiliated. Based on the volume of work caused, the contributions are in accordance with the ombudsman office's schedule of contributions and costs.
Chapter 3 Admission and Exclusion
Art. 81 Admission
An ombudsman's office is obliged to admit a financial service provider if it fulfils the admission conditions.
Art. 82 Exclusion
Financial service providers that repeatedly fail to comply with the duties in accordance with Articles 78 to 80 shall be excluded by the ombudsman's office.
Art. 83 Duty to inform
The ombudsman's office shall inform the supervisory authorities as well as the registration body about the financial service providers it has admitted, those refused admission and those excluded.
Chapter 4 Recognition and Publication
Art. 84 Recognition
1 Ombudsman's offices must be recognised by the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). 2 Organisations meeting the following conditions shall be recognised as ombudsman's offices: a. they and the persons charged by them with mediation are organisationally and financially independent, perform their task impartially, transparently and efficiently, and do not accept directives; b. they ensure that the persons charged by them with mediation have the necessary specialist skills; c. they have organisational regulations that ensure the proper functioning of the ombudsman's office and specify the admission conditions; d. they have procedural rules governing the procedure under Article 75; e. they have a schedule of contributions and costs in accordance with Article 80. 3 The FDF shall publish a list of ombudsman's offices. 4 If individual financial service providers have no possibility of being affiliated to an ombudsman's office, the FDF may require an ombudsman’s office to admit these financia
Art. 85 Review of recognition
1 Changes which concern the fulfilment of the conditions for recognition laid down in Article 84 must be submitted to the FDF for approval. 2 If an ombudsman's office no longer fulfils the conditions for recognition, the FDF shall set an appropriate period for rectification. 3 If the necessary rectifications are not made within this period, the FDF shall withdraw its recognition.
Art. 86 Reporting
Ombudsman's offices shall publish an activity report annually.