PE / VC & Fund Managers
in Switzerland.

What this sector has to get right in Switzerland

Whether a manager needs a licence in Switzerland turns on what it does and for whom. Managing collective assets or acting as a manager of collective investment schemes pulls you under the Financial Institutions Act as an asset manager or, at fund level, under the Collective Investment Schemes Act. De-minimis thresholds and the distinction between managing individual portfolios and collective schemes decide which door you go through, and the prudential and organisational requirements differ sharply between them.

Underneath the licence sit the vehicles. Private-equity and venture structures run through special-purpose vehicles, holding companies and, increasingly, tokenised feeders. Each entity needs real substance, clean books, directors who can act, and entity management that keeps filings and registers current across the fund's life. Investors and their counsel test this in diligence; a thin structure is a fundraising problem, not just a compliance one.

We keep the licence and the structures on one desk so they stay consistent: the regulatory permissions, the entities they apply to, and the administration that proves substance, rather than splitting them across a regulatory adviser, a corporate-services provider and an administrator who do not speak to each other.