How Swiss banks prevent investors from reclaiming their retrocessions

Retrocessions: How Swiss banks prevent investors from reclaiming their retrocessions

So far, things have gone very well for banks and asset managers in Switzerland. As early as 2012, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that kickbacks are prohibited. This means that they must refund the retrocessions they collected from investors back to them. After all, they had these fees reimbursed by the providers of the financial products. However, very few customers have demanded their money back so far. With each passing day, as claims expire, the banks are earning a lot of money.

Banks ignore claims for kickback refunds

As a result, they are stubbornly sitting it out, as if they are not obligated to repay the money to investors. They should actually be proactively informing customers about their claims. After the Federal Supreme Court declared kickbacks inadmissible in 2012, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) urged banks to implement the ruling. In particular, FINMA demanded that they contact their customers and inform them of the decision. However, the banks simply did not respond. Their argument: their relationship with investors is a private matter, and the supervisory authority should not interfere.

Consequently, many customers have never learned about their right to reclaim retrocessions. Others shy away from high legal costs and therefore forgo reclaiming their money. Then there are the more than 100,000 investors who self-reported for tax evasion. Many of them are relieved to have closed that chapter, believing they have a clean slate, yet they still have claims against their former bank.

Online procedure for reclaiming retrocessions

The banks are playing for time. Sometimes they even claim that the claims have expired after just five years because they are so-called periodic payments. But this is incorrect. Investors have ten years to reclaim their money. The Federal Supreme Court clearly stated this in June 2017.

So, it is not too late. Act now! We at Liti-Link AG offer you an uncomplicated online procedure to enforce your or your clients' claims. And all this without any cost risk, as we bear that. You can only win.