RISTER News & Insights

Real estate asset management in Geneva draws managers from London, Paris and Dubai, many of whom arrive with a first client already signed. One question decides which company you should form: will you manage buildings or financial instruments? Property held directly...

You can open a cybersecurity company in Geneva without asking anyone for a licence. A GmbH or an AG entered in the Geneva commercial register is all you need to sell audits, run a security operations centre (SOC) or answer incident calls. The pressure comes from your...

Setting up a trustee company in Geneva means asking FINMA for the right to administer trusts governed by foreign law on behalf of third parties. Since FINMA's supervisory notice 01/2024, a single trust whose assets exceed CHF 5 million is enough to make the activity...

A jewelry store in Geneva needs no licence, federal or cantonal: a company entered in the commercial register, retail premises and stock are enough to open the doors. The rules that count apply to the pieces and to the way clients pay. Every article in gold, silver,...

You can set up a real estate development company in Geneva, but two laws decide the project before any bank looks at it. The federal Lex Koller bars a company controlled from abroad from buying land to build homes, while leaving offices, shops and hotels open....

To work as a real estate broker in Geneva today, you need neither a professional card nor a place on any register: a company entered in the Geneva commercial register and a carefully drafted brokerage agreement are enough to take your first mandates. Founders should...

Opening a cleaning company in Geneva takes no cantonal licence and no diploma: a GmbH registered in the Geneva commercial register is enough to start. The real framework comes afterwards, one paid hour at a time. In Geneva, every hour must pass two checks, the wage...

A carpentry business in Geneva needs no licence to exist: no federal text reserves joinery, cabinetmaking or timber framing to diploma holders, and the canton keeps no register of joiners. What it does need, from the first hire, is the right collective agreement. In...

Opening a leather goods business in Geneva, whether a workshop, a shop or a brand that has its pieces made elsewhere, takes no licence and no diploma. What Swiss law regulates is the product. A bag, a belt or a watch strap is a utility article, checked in Geneva by...

When you start a plumbing company in Geneva, your first counterpart is not the commercial register but the Services Industriels de Genève (SIG). There is no federal licence for sanitary installers, yet in Geneva a gas installation may only be installed, altered or...

Starting a cosmetics brand in Geneva requires no permit: the SCAV, the cantonal service in charge of consumer goods, issues neither sales licences nor certificates of conformity, and no federal register lists creams or perfumes. Responsibility sits entirely with the...

Opening an AI agency in Geneva requires no permit: neither the cantonal trade police nor the Confederation regulates the business, and Switzerland has no AI statute yet. The real constraints come from your clients. A private bank, a law firm or a medical practice in...