The purpose, resources and organisation of the VQF are regulated in the by-laws of the Association in accordance with Art. 60 Para. 2 of the Swiss Civil Code (SCC).
The revision of the English version of our articles of association is currently in process. Please refer for the time being to the German version of the revised articles of association:
Art. 2 of the by-laws states the purpose of the association as follows:
1) The purpose of the Association is to assure the quality of financial services and to enforce a high level of business ethics on the basis of self-responsibility.
2) The Association acts as a multi-sector self-regulatory organisation (hereinafter referred to as: "SRO") in terms of the Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of 10 October 1997 (hereinafter referred to as: "AMLA") and aims to control compliance with duties in accordance with the AMLA. For this purpose, the Association exercises permanent control over the members of the SRO (hereinafter referred to as: "VQF SRO members") with regard to compliance with the provisions of the AMLA and the Association's by-laws (hereinafter: “by-laws”) and the Association's SRO regulations.
The Association may act directly or indirectly through subsidiaries, participations in other companies or cooperation with third parties in the area of supervision of financial intermediaries and financial institutions in accordance with Swiss financial market legislation.
It may establish branch offices and subsidiaries and may participate in other companies, and may carry out all transactions which are directly or indirectly related to its purpose.
3) The Association may act as an industry organisation and issue, audit and enforce professional rules and codes of professional conduct.
4) The Association may exercise all activities related to the Association's purposes as specified above. The Association may conduct its own on-site audits or instruct an auditing firm to carry out ordinary and limited audits, special inspections and specific statutory audits.