Switzerland The Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA)

FinSA establishes the following three client classes: “Retail (non professional)”, “Professional” and “Institutional” clients. Depending on the client classification, different levels of investor protection apply, in particular, with regard to information duties, assessment of suitability and appropriateness as well as documentation and reporting duties:

• Retail (non-professional) clients: As a rule, clients who are not classified as Professional or Institutional are considered Retail (non professional) clients. This classification provides the highest degree of investor protection. In particular, it requires a detailed assessment of the suitability of the individual client’s investment, the provision of comprehensive information, and access to appropriate universe of financial instruments.
• Professional clients: Professional clients are clients who possess the knowledge, experience, and expertise to make their own investment decisions and properly assess the risks incurred, such as pension providers (namely pensions funds), public entities, and companies with a professional treasury function. As a result, a lower level of investor protection applies to them but they have access to a broader financial instruments and services universe.
• Institutional clients: Institutional clients include, inter alia, banks, insurance companies, and other financial intermediaries subject to prudential supervision in Switzerland or abroad. Given their structure, experience, and financial resources, these clients are considered highly sophisticated and less vulnerable. Therefore, the most protective measures under FinSA would not apply to them.

In line with the abovementioned FinSA requirements, Credit Suisse classifies clients as “Retail (non professional)” clients, “Professional” clients and “Institutional” clients. You may contact your relationship manager if you are unsure about your client classification or take a look at this factsheet (PDF) for further information.

Transactions with financial instruments comprise opportunities but also bear risks. It is therefore important to understand these risks before using any financial service.
 
The following brochure “Risks Involved in Trading Financial Instruments” of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) provides general information about typical financial services and describes the characteristics and risks of financial instruments:

Risks Involved in Trading Financial Instruments (PDF)

Please familiarize yourself with the information in this brochure prior concluding a contract or investing into a financial instrument and contact your relationship manager if you have any questions.
 
You can also obtain a physical copy of the brochure from your relationship manager.

In relation to the provision of financial services, costs and fees may be incurred both by Credit Suisse and third parties. We distinguish between costs and fees that are charged directly to your account and financial instrument costs.

For Credit Suisse service fees please consult the following price lists:

Please note that the safekeeping and transaction fees disclosed therein apply to clients without a portfolio management and/or advisory agreement. You can also obtain a physical copy of the price lists from your relationship manager. If you sign a portfolio management and/or advisory agreement different pricing models apply. You will obtain respective price lists from your relationship manager prior agreement closing or strategy change.

An overview of costs and fees, including external fees, financial instrument costs and charges for foreign exchange transactions, is provided in the following cost addendum:

External fees, financial instrument costs & charges for foreign exchange transactions (PDF)

Information about the effective costs and fees of your financial transactions can be obtained from your relationship manager upon specific request.

Where Credit Suisse provides investment advice on financial instruments, their suitability for the client is assessed and documented.

At the client's request, the bank will provide them with advisory minutes. Professional clients can generally opt not to have advisory minutes drawn up or to receive them.

The advisory minutes specify the advice given to the client and how it reflects, among other things, the client's objectives and personal circumstances, including their risk appetite and ability to bear financial losses. The advisory minutes include the relevant details of the client meeting (e.g. the participants and the initiator of the meeting) as well as information about the financial instruments discussed and the reasons for each recommendation.

Advisory minutes are drawn up for all private clients and professional clients if the advisory service is provided from Switzerland. All advised transactions and all types of recommendations for financial instruments (i.e. buy, hold, sell, don't buy) are within the scope of FinSA.

With the introduction of FinSA, a Key Information Document (KID) must be made available to all retail clients if personal investment advice is provided on certain financial instruments.

The KID is a standardized document, which provides a brief and simplified overview about the key features, risks and costs of a financial instrument. In addition, it facilitates the comparison of different instruments.

In case of non-advised transactions, we only provide you with a KID if it has been made available by the manufacturer of the financial instrument. For transactions in the context of a portfolio management agreement, no KID will be provided.

You can also retrieve these KIDs – if provided by the manufacturer – via our following website:
credit-suisse.com/kid

Credit Suisse has established Best Execution arrangements for retail and professional clients that describe the principles, duties, and responsibilities to take all sufficient steps to systematically obtain the best possible result when either directly executing transactions on clients' behalf or transmitting client orders to intermediaries for execution.

Best Execution Policy (PDF)

Our Conflicts of Interest Policy

The summary of our Global Conflicts Policy below outlines how we will manage actual and potential conflicts of interest that may arise through the provision of services to you.

Download Conflicts of Interest Policy (PDF)

If you have decided to entrust your assets to an external asset manager (EAM), Credit Suisse acts as a custodian bank in cooperation with EAMs.

Your EAM would act solely based on your instructions and is neither an employee nor a representative of Credit Suisse. Please be aware that Credit Suisse cannot take responsibility for the regulatory compliance of the EAMs it cooperates with.
 
For clients managed by an EAM some particularities apply (not exhaustive):

EAMs will also classify clients into institutional, professional and retail clients and will, depending on the classification, obtain information on clients’ knowledge and experience with respect to financial instruments. When providing investment advice or making investment decisions, the EAM (and not Credit Suisse) is responsible for matching financial instruments with clients’ suitability and appropriateness profiles.  For the avoidance of doubt, Credit Suisse will not perform any suitability and appropriateness assessment and, thus, will not check the client’s knowledge and experience, ability to bear financial risks and investment objectives in situations where clients are served by an EAM and Credit Suisse acts a custodian bank.

Furthermore, depending on the above-mentioned classification, when providing investment advice for specific financial instruments, the EAM should provide information on financial instruments prior to an investment decision and must document the advice given (advisory minutes).

EAMs generally will disclose costs and related charges prior to an investment decision or prior to concluding a portfolio management agreement, taking into account the client’s classification and services provided. FinSA investment report will encompass only Credit Suisse costs. The EAM should also inform clients additionally about their own costs and charges.

Credit Suisse is committed to providing you transparency on all aspects of your relationship with us. Please refer to your relationship manager if you would like additional information, in particular with regard to:

• Composition, valuation and development of the portfolio regarding the management of your assets;
• Development of the portfolio in respect of the management of your custody accounts;
• Costs associated with the financial services;
• Amounts of remuneration effectively received in accordance with the Financial Services Act;
• Documentation established in the course of the client relationship (e.g. copy of client file).

Credit Suisse is committed to providing you with the highest level of service. If you are not entirely satisfied, we urge you to contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can seek to take all steps necessary to rectify these concerns.  

The most efficient way to address any concerns you have is to contact your relationship manager, who will in turn strive to answer any questions and resolve any concerns you might have.
 
You can also write to us at:
 
Credit Suisse
Client Feedback specialist unit
YSPI
8070 Zurich, Switzerland
Fax +41 (0)44 333 62 99

Further information

You can also refer your case to the Swiss Ombudsman Service at any time, in particular if our final response was not satisfactory:
 
Swiss Banking Ombudsman
Bahnhofplatz 9
Postfach
8021 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)43 266 14 14

The procedure as well as all relevant information can be found online at www.bankingombudsman.ch