Swiss Bearer Shares – Conversion deadline April 2021

Back in November 2019, the new transparency rules for Swiss bearer shares came into force as the Swiss Federal Assembly adopted the Federal Act, implementing the recommendations of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

This means: any non-listed public limited companies (AG) in Switzerland must convert existing bearer shares into registered shares by no later than April 30, 2021. In order to complete the conversion in time, the company must act now. The change needs to be registered at the commercial registry and it will require adjusting the company’s statutes and corporate documents by means of a notary meeting. 

If shareholders and signatories of the company are unable or not comfortable travelling to Switzerland to represent the shares, F Trust AG can carry out the shares by Power of Attorney. 

Any Swiss AG companies whose shares have not been converted by April 2021 will be converted automatically by court decree to registered shares, however the articles and statutes of the company will still need to be adjusted accordingly. 

As this change of shares must be done by notarial act, it is also an opportunity to make other changes in the company documents such as: domicile (changing to a canton which may have lower corporate tax), financial year timing, shareholders and directors, audit op outs etc…

If you would like F Trust’s assistance in handling this obligatory change of shares from bearer to registered or have any questions in general about Swiss company administration, please do not hesitate to get in touch at admin@ftrust.ch.