AMLA Revision: advisors

Advisers are natural and legal persons who, on a professional basis, assist third parties with financial transactions, including the raising of funds, in connection with certain legal transactions pursuant to Art. 2 para. 3bis revised AMLA (revAMLA).

These include:

• the purchase and sale of real estate;
• the establishment and incorporation of non-operational legal entities domiciled in Switzerland or legal entities domiciled abroad;
• the management and administration of non-operational legal entities;
• contributions to and distributions from non-operational legal entities;
• the purchase and sale of legal entities, provided that such purchase or sale is carried out through a non-operational legal entity.

Furthermore, pursuant to Art. 2 para. 3ter revAMLA, natural and legal persons are also considered advisers if, on a professional basis, they provide addresses or premises as a domicile or registered office for legal entities for a period exceeding six months.

Exceptions apply to:

• attorneys and notaries acting within their legally protected core professional activities in civil, administrative, criminal and arbitration proceedings, including preparatory activities (Art. 2 para. 4 lit. f revAMLA);
• auditors licensed by the Federal Audit Oversight Authority (FAOA) for statutory audit and assurance activities (Art. 2 para. 4bis revAMLA).

No affiliation with an SRO is required if the adviser exclusively handles mandates falling within the exceptions set out in the revAMLA (in particular Art. 2 para. 4ter revAMLA) or if the professional activity threshold is not exceeded. However, if the adviser also performs activities that fall within the scope of the revAMLA and exceeds the professional activity threshold, affiliation with an SRO is required for those activities.

Participation in financial transactions, including fundraising, refers to a specific activity directly related to a transaction. Purely abstract advice or responses to general legal questions without connection to a specific transaction do not fall within the scope of the new regulation.

However, when an adviser is engaged in relation to a specifically planned transaction, the following applies: Advice constitutes legally relevant participation if it represents a causal contribution to the financial transaction. Any contribution that objectively promotes the legal transaction in connection with an AMLA-relevant activity is sufficient. Causal participation exists if the relevant legal transaction would have taken place differently without the adviser’s involvement.

Examples of participation include:

• Drafting transaction-related documents;
• Conducting negotiations in connection with a transaction;
• Tax optimisation in the context of a specific transaction;
• Financing advice;
• Organisational measures without which the transaction typically could not be completed.

Pursuant to Art. 18a para. 1 revAMLA, self-regulatory organisations must ensure that AMLA compliance inspections of attorneys and notaries are conducted by fellow attorneys or notaries in order to safeguard professional secrecy.

Subject to Art. 18a para. 3 revAMLA, the attorneys and notaries conducting AMLA inspections may not access information protected by professional secrecy. Information made available following a release from professional secrecy may not be disclosed to the SRO or other authority. Reports submitted to the SRO must exclude such information. Furthermore, they must ensure the secure storage of information and documents obtained during inspections while maintaining professional secrecy.

Pursuant to Art. 8b revAMLA, advisers must identify their clients (Art. 3 para. 1 revAMLA), establish the beneficial owner (Art. 4 para. 1 and para. 2 lit. a and b revAMLA) and comply with the documentation requirements (Art. 7 revAMLA). In addition, they must clarify the background and purpose of a transaction or service where warranted by the higher risks associated with the transaction, service or client.

Pursuant to Art. 8c revAMLA, self-regulatory organisations define the specific scope of the due diligence obligations applicable to their affiliated advisers.

Art. 8d revAMLA further requires advisers to implement the organisational measures necessary to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and violations of sanctions under the Embargo Act. In particular, they must ensure adequate staff training and appropriate controls.

You can learn about the practical application of the due diligence obligations and the revised AMLA through one of our training courses. Further information on our training courses is available on the AMLA Basic Training and Continuing Education pages.

Even if an adviser is not yet affiliated with an SRO or has not yet submitted an application for affiliation, the due diligence obligations must be complied with immediately upon the entry into force of the revised AMLA on October 1, 2026.

The final regulatory framework is expected to be available shortly. You are welcome to submit your application for admission to VQF already today.

On our website, under Downloads, you will find guidelines for admission applications (VQF Documents 801.2 and 801.3). The guidelines explain step by step which documents must be completed and submitted and how to proceed. If you have any questions, please contact us via the contact form.

An adviser whose activities become subject to the revised AMLA as of October 1, 2026 must generally submit an application for affiliation with an SRO no later than December 1, 2026 or within two months of exceeding the professional activity threshold.

No. Effective October 1, 2026, advisers subject to the affiliation requirement may not enter into any new adviser-related business relationships until affiliation with an SRO has been confirmed.

For existing business relationships, the due diligence obligations under the revised AMLA must nevertheless be complied with.

What the VQF can do
The VQF can review a formally and properly submitted application for membership and, based on that review, assess whether the requirements for affiliation are met. This assessment is carried out as part of the ordinary admission process and is based on the documents and information required by the VQF and submitted by the applicant.
Detailed guidance on the membership application process can be found in VQF Documents 801.2 and 801.3, available in the Downloads section of our website. The guideline explains step by step which documents must be completed and submitted, and how the application process should be carried out.

What the VQF cannot do
Prior to the submission of a membership application, the VQF cannot conduct a detailed case-by-case assessment or provide a binding preliminary opinion on whether a specific activity is subject to the AMLA. Determining whether an activity triggers an obligation to be affiliated under the AMLA generally requires a thorough legal analysis of the specific business activity. Due in part to our supervisory function, we are unable to carry out such an assessment within the framework of a general preliminary inquiry.
We therefore recommend that you have the question of whether your activities are subject to the AMLA reviewed in advance by a law firm specializing in financial market law or by another qualified expert in the field. Such professionals can conduct a comprehensive analysis of your business model and provide a legal assessment.
 

The self-regulatory organisations SRO SAV/SNV, ARIF, PolyReg, SRO Treuhand|Suisse, VQF, SO-FIT and SRO-SVV, in coordination with the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), have jointly prepared answers to the following questions as an aid to interpretation.

These answers provide guidance and are not legally binding, but reflect the views of the organisations involved. FINMA participated in the discussions and may endorse these statements at a later stage.

You can find here