The Swiss Finan­cial Services Act

The Swiss Finan­cial Services ACT (FINSA)

The Swiss Finan­cial Services Act (FINSA) came into force on January 1, 2020. With this law the customer resp. investor protec­tion is streng­thened and the trans­pa­rency of finan­cial service provi­ders and finan­cial products is increased.

We would like to inform you as follows:

FINSA Client infor­ma­tion sheet

With this customer infor­ma­tion sheet Tareno fulfills the infor­ma­tion requi­re­ments accor­ding to the Finan­cial Services Act (FINSA). It is intended to give our custo­mers an overview of the finan­cial services offered.

Client Infor­ma­tion sheet

Customer segmen­ta­tion

Accor­ding to Article 4 of the Finan­cial Services Act (FINSA), Tareno as a finan­cial services provider is obliged to classify all custo­mers into customer segments. The customer segment deter­mines the scope of the appli­cable investor protec­tion level and has, among other things, an influence on the extent of the infor­ma­tion and clari­fi­ca­tion obliga­tions in connec­tion with our finan­cial services.

For client segmen­ta­tion, the FINSA distin­gu­ishes between the catego­ries of private clients, profes­sional clients and insti­tu­tional clients. Whereby the first two catego­ries have the greatest relevance for Tareno.

Private clients

The private client segment includes all clients who are not classi­fied as profes­sional clients. These can be natural persons, legal entities or partner­ships. Private custo­mers are subject to the highest level of investor protec­tion with the most exten­sive infor­ma­tion and disclo­sure requi­re­ments. The range of finan­cial instru­ments available to private clients may be restricted.

Profes­sional clients

Clients may be classi­fied as profes­sional clients if they meet the legal requi­re­ments. Profes­sional clients must have a certain amount of assets. Due to their classi­fi­ca­tion as sophi­sti­cated investors, they have access to a larger invest­ment universe compared to private clients.  Profes­sional clients are considered to have the neces­sary knowledge and experi­ence regar­ding finan­cial services and finan­cial instru­ments to make invest­ment decis­ions. They are also in a position to assess whether the associated invest­ment risks are appro­priate and finan­ci­ally viable for them. Profes­sional clients are there­fore subject to a lower level of investor protec­tion than private clients.

Tareno generally allocates its asset manage­ment clients to the “private client” segment

Tareno has decided to classify all its clients as private clients. Thus, they benefit from the highest investor protec­tion with the most compre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion and clari­fi­ca­tion obliga­tions.

Change of customer category (opting-in/op­ting-out)

High-net-worth private clients can declare that they wish to be considered profes­sional clients. In order to do so, they must demon­strate, in accordance with Art. 5 FINSA, that they a) have the knowledge neces­sary to under­stand the risks of the invest­ments, based on their educa­tion and profes­sional experi­ence or compa­rable experi­ence in the finan­cial sector, and have assets of at least CHF 500,000; or b) have assets of at least CHF 2 million.

A change from private client to profes­sional client (so-called opting-out) must be reque­sted in writing to Tareno using a form provided for this purpose.

Profes­sional clients may declare that they wish to be considered as private clients. Under certain condi­tions, the possi­bi­lity of the so-called opting-in exists accor­ding to Art. 5 para. 5 FINSA. In this case, too, a written decla­ra­tion must be submitted.