Switzerland is the main offshore banking centre in the world, with more than US$2.2 trillion, or 25%, of the world's foreign assets under management. Furthermore, Switzerland has become the world's number one commodity trading hub, with a global market share estimated at 35% of oil, 60% of metals and 50% of sugar and cereals transactions. A significant share of cross-border asset recovery disputes therefore involves Swiss banks, financial intermediaries, family offices and commodity trading companies, as assets, claims and evidence lay in Switzerland. Identifying, freezing and recovering assets and evidence in Switzerland is complex, due to the Swiss blocking statute, banking secrecy and the lack of discovery in civil procedure. Over the years, however, powerful tools have been developed to successfully overcome these obstacles. By sharing the experience of insolvency practitioners and Swiss lawyers on the basis of recent common cases, this webinar will present, on the basis of concrete examples, the best strategies to maximize recoveries over Swiss assets and defendants, by the use of a combination of criminal, civil and insolvency proceedings: 1. The pitfall of the Swiss blocking statute and the new cross-border insolvency regime. 2. How to identify, preserve and recover Swiss assets. 3. How to obtain evidence to successfully bring claims against facilitators.
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