New Swiss Register of Beneficial Owners: overview and implications

In the wake of the adoption of the new FATF Recommendation 24 on beneficial ownership in 2022 the Swiss Federal Council has proposed the enactment of the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (LETA). One of the key elements of the new legislation is the introduction of a federal register of beneficial owners (UBO Register) in which legal entities will be required to record information about their beneficial owners. To date only certain legal entities have to establish a UBO Register on an internal basis (cf. Art 697l of the Swiss Code of Obligations for corporations). With the proposed Act Switzerland aims to align its legislation with FATF Recommendation 24 and follow the example of many other countries that have already introduced similar registers. The draft law is currently in...