e private client - 03.06.2020

Why are UK financial groups not telling clients about the ability to claim back Swiss Retrocession fees?

As a recap, Swiss retrocessions refer to "Kickback Commissions" paid out to banks by third parties. Swiss rulings in 2006, 2012 and 2017 clarified these as belonging to the client, payable on request. These relate to Trusts as well as individual accounts.

However Liti-Link, a specialist retrocession firm, notes that it has only processed 40 UK clients out of a total of 1050 cases despite the UK having the highest number of potential claimants (in excess of 100,000).

A mixture of a lack of knowledge and conflicts of interest dominate this area...

In terms of the Big 4 accountancy firms, the conflicts are clear. They are unwilling to tell clients due to their Swiss partners deeming it economic suicide for their Swiss banking relationships.

This extends beyond this group to mid-tier firms and combined, these entities are sitting on tens of thousands of clients who could claim if they knew. Is this really in the client's interest? The ethics of the industry again come under the spotlight.

Find the full article here.