Information form July 09, 2009 Rules of Conduct for Asset Managers

Zug, July 09, 2009 – Rules of Conduct for Asset Managers – On 23 April 2009, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) approved the rules of conduct proposed by the VQF in its function as the national "Industry Organisation for Asset Managers (BOVV VQF)". The rules of conduct of the BOVV VQF regulate what an asset management contract must contain and how the asset management contract must be implemented (duties of trust, information and due diligence by the asset manager towards its client and regulation of the asset manager’s compensation). Therefore, in addition to the VQF’s aforementioned function as a self-regulatory organisation in accordance with the AMLA, its purpose now also includes the assurance of investment protection. In order to become subject to the rules of conduct, VQF members are required to submit a special declaration of change of membership category (change of membership category from AMLA supervision only to the mixed category of supervision under the AMLA and the rules of conduct). You can find the following documents below:

-   Rules of Conduct of the BOVV VQF
-   Application form (declaration of change)

After approval by FINMA, the general BOVV regulation will also be published here. There is currently a lack of clarity within FINMA as to the question of which asset managers are subject under the law to become members of an industry organisation for asset management, such as the BOVV VQF. FINMA will inform the VQF of its definitive ruling on the respective legal principles by way of a FINMA newsletter. The VQF will then clarify the aforementioned legal requirements to its members in its own newsletter. In addition to the above mentioned documents, as an enclosure to this newsletter, the VQF will also send its members a commentary (aid to application and interpretation) on the rules of conduct.