On 23 September 2022, the Swiss Federal Council opened the consultation procedure on the draft for an amendment to the Collective Investment Schemes Ordinance (CISO) and a number of fund-related provisions in other ordinances. The core content of the consultation draft (Consultation Draft) is the implementing provisions regarding the Limited Qualified Investor Fund (L-QIF), a new category of Swiss collective investment schemes (CIS) which, unlike all existing categories of Swiss CIS, do not require FINMA approval or authorization.

The basis for the introduction of the L-QIF was created through a partial revision of the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) passed by the Swiss Parliament on 17 December 2021. As the legal provisions contained in CISA – deliberately – regulate the L-QIF only in broad terms, and important aspects such as the investment regulations applicable to the L-QIF are delegated to the Federal Council for regulation at ordinance level, the content of the CISO rules is of decisive importance for the attractiveness and, as a consequence, the future success of this new fund category.

This article summarizes and discusses the key points of the proposed regulation of the L-QIF at ordinance level pursuant to the Consultation Draft. Proposed changes to ordinance provisions that are not directly related to the L-QIF will not elaborated on here.

By Sandro Abegglen / Yannick Wettstein (Reference: CapLaw-2023-14)