Switzerland: A Trust Companies Overview

Managing Foreign Governing Laws and Multi-Jurisdictional Trust Structures

This overview examines industry best practices for administering complex cross-border trust structures and holding international underlying assets outside Switzerland.

Trusts in Switzerland

Switzerland has long been recognised as one of the world’s leading centres for international trust administration, combining political stability, a sophisticated private wealth industry, and deep fiduciary expertise. Although Switzerland does not have its own domestic trust law, Swiss trustees routinely administer trusts governed by well-established foreign trust regimes, allowing international families to benefit from mature trust law frameworks while accessing Swiss fiduciary services and expertise.

Switzerland’s ratification of the Hague Trust Convention in 2007 formalised the recognition of foreign trusts under Swiss law, reinforcing a long-established practice. Long before ratification, Swiss fiduciaries had developed substantial expertise in the administration of trusts governed by foreign law, and Switzerland had become an important centre for international trust and wealth structuring. Although proposals to introduce a Swiss-law trust were ultimately not pursued, the continued use of established foreign trust regimes allows Swiss-based trustees to administer structures governed by some of the world’s most developed trust laws.

At the same time, the Swiss regulatory environment has evolved significantly. Professional trustees are now subject to authorisation and supervision requirements under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA), with increased focus on governance, risk management and the administration of cross-border structures. This combination of regulatory oversight and flexibility of governing law has helped reinforce Switzerland’s position as a centre for international trust administration.

Cross-border issues

The structures administered by Swiss-resident trustees frequently span multiple jurisdictions, legal systems and generations of family ownership. It is increasingly common for settlors, beneficiaries, protectors, underlying assets and advisers all to be connected to different countries.

As a result, the administration of trust structures often requires consideration of a broad range of legal, regulatory and tax frameworks. Relevant factors may include:

• the residence and tax status of settlors, beneficiaries, protectors and other related parties;
• whether trusts are recognised from a legal or fiscal perspective in relevant jurisdictions;
• the governing law of the trust and any underlying entities;
• local succession, matrimonial property and forced heirship rules; and
• regulatory and reporting obligations applicable to the structure and its participants.

The interaction between these considerations can create significant complexity, particularly where structures have evolved over time or hold assets across multiple jurisdictions.

Governance and underlying assets

The administration of international structures becomes particularly nuanced where operating businesses form part of the asset base. In such cases, trustees must consider not only the terms of the trust itself but also the governance arrangements of underlying entities. Board composition, delegated authorities, reserved matters and the location of decision-making may all have implications from a corporate, regulatory and tax perspective.

Questions of management and control continue to receive attention from tax authorities globally, making it important that governance arrangements accurately reflect the operation and purpose of the structure. As international families become increasingly mobile, governance frameworks must also be capable of adapting to changes in residence, family circumstances and business activity.

Transparency and reporting

The international transparency landscape continues to develop at a rapid pace. Trustees are required to navigate a growing range of reporting and disclosure obligations, including those arising under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), beneficial ownership regimes, and trust or entity registers. These requirements often differ significantly between jurisdictions, both in terms of who must be reported and the information that must be maintained.

Recent legislative developments in Switzerland further reflect this global trend. New federal transparency legislation, due to enter into force on 1 October 2026, introduces a central transparency register for legal entities that is accessible to public authorities and other authorised bodies. For trustees administering structures for multiple entities with reporting obligations, maintaining accurate and up-to-date ownership information is likely to become increasingly important.

The continuing expansion of transparency frameworks highlights the need for effective information gathering and co-ordination across all parties connected to a structure.

The importance of ongoing review

A notable feature of cross-border trust structures is that the legal and factual circumstances surrounding them rarely remain static. Changes in family composition, tax residence, underlying assets, business activities and local legislation can each affect how a structure operates and the obligations that apply to it. In many cases, risks arise not through a single event but through the gradual accumulation of changes over time.

For this reason, periodic review has become an increasingly important component of trust administration. Such reviews commonly consider changes affecting family members, underlying assets, governance arrangements and applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

Close ongoing collaboration between trustees, families and their professional advisers is central to this process. A high priority is placed on working effectively alongside external advisers and intermediaries, ensuring that significant developments are identified early, communicated clearly and assessed in the broader context of the structure and the family’s overall objectives. This co-ordinated and responsive approach is an essential component of effective trust administration.

Looking ahead

The administration of international trust structures is becoming more sophisticated as wealth, families and assets continue to cross borders. While trust law remains territorial, the practical operation of modern structures requires an in-depth understanding of multiple legal systems and regulatory frameworks simultaneously.

For Swiss-resident trustees, this environment presents both opportunities and challenges. Switzerland’s established expertise in cross-border wealth structures, combined with its evolving regulatory framework, continues to make it a significant jurisdiction for international trust administration.

As cross-border wealth structures continue to evolve, the role of the trustee increasingly extends beyond administration alone. Effective trusteeship requires the ability to co-ordinate legal, tax, governance and family considerations across multiple jurisdictions, while working closely with families and their advisers to ensure structures remain fit for purpose over time.