SWITZERLAND: Money laundering amendments will enforce beneficial ownership checks

Switzerland has begun consultation on amending the Anti-Money Laundering Act, to take account of recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force’s 2016 mutual evaluation report on the jurisdiction. The amendments will introduce due diligence obligations for certain services regarding establishment, management or administration of companies and trusts, and an explicit duty on financial intermediaries to verify and maintain up-to-date beneficial ownership information. Associations at risk of being misused for the financing of terrorism or money laundering, mostly international charities, will have to be entered in the commercial register.