Background

In December 2021, the Federal Council decided to amend the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and thus introduce the L-QIF.

The L-QIF will not need to be approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and is not subject to prudential supervision. It is a collective investment scheme available exclusively to qualified investors and it can only be managed by institutions that are supervised by FINMA. The L-QIF will be faster and cheaper to set-up compared to currently available Swiss fund structures and is intended to increase the attractiveness and innovative capacity of Switzerland as a fund center.

Purpose and scope of the amendments

The proposal opened for consultation implements the L-QIF provisions into the CISO. Some of its key features are outlined below.

Key features

1. Moderate deregulation

No authorisation, no approval, and no supervision of the product by a regulator.

2. Maintenance of protection of investors
  • L-QIFs are exclusively available to qualified investors;
  • The product must be administrated by an institution subject to FINMA’s supervision.
3. Not an independent new legal form of a collective investment scheme

L-QIFs have to adopt one of the following legal forms available under the CISA:

  • contractual investment fund;
  • investment company with variable capital (SICAV); or
  • limited partnership for collective investment schemes (KmGK).
4. Possibility for existing funds to change their type of fund

Possibility to convert from an authorised fund to an L-QIF.

Some new advantages

1. Low fees

L-QIFs entail lower costs than current Swiss collective investment schemes.

2. High speed to market

Tight time frame between the conception, the development of an L-QIF and the availability for investors.

3. More flexibility & innovation

No limits or restrictions apply to the content of an L-QIF in order to promote innovation.

4. Domestic solution

Maintains the financial service chain and value creation in Switzerland.

Some unchanged drawbacks

1. Withholding tax of 35%

L-QIFs are subject to withholding tax, as are any other funds subject to this tax under CISA.

2. No EU-pass

No EU-passport for Swiss funds.

Get in touch

If you have any questions on the L-QIF, please do not hesitate to reach out to Judith Raijmakers, Sandra Zysset, or Etienne Anex.