Setting up a trustee company in Geneva as a foreigner: FINMA licence, supervisory organisation, organisation and STEP

What the law means by a trustee

Three elements make a trustee under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA, LEFin in French): a commercial activity, a separate fund and the instrument creating a trust. Article 17(2) puts it this way: “A trustee is a person who on a commercial basis manages or holds a separate fund for the benefit of the beneficiaries or for a specified purpose based on the instrument creating a trust within the meaning of the Hague Convention of 1 July 1985 on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition.”

The job itself is described in Article 19(2): “The trustee manages the separate fund, ensures its value is maintained and employs it for the specified purposes.” Investment advice and portfolio analysis may be added (Art. 19(3)). Managing client portfolios outside any trust is a different profession, portfolio management, with its own licence; our article on setting up as an asset manager in Geneva covers that route. A trustee who wants to do both applies for an additional authorisation (Art. 20(2) of the Financial Institutions Ordinance, FinIO).

Trusts in Switzerland: foreign law recognised under the Hague Convention

A Geneva trustee company only administers trusts governed by foreign law, because Switzerland has never legislated on the institution. It chose recognition instead: the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition has applied in Switzerland since 1 July 2007.

• Governing law: the settlor chooses it (Art. 6 of the Convention), in practice a legal system that knows the trust, such as English law.
• Separate fund: once recognised in Switzerland, the trust assets stay outside the trustee’s own estate; to the extent the law of the trust provides, the trustee’s personal creditors cannot seize them and they are kept apart in the trustee’s bankruptcy (Art. 11).
• Private International Law Act: Articles 149a to 149d PILA deal with jurisdiction, the applicable law and the note of the trust in the land register; “A trust relationship that is not noted or recorded is not enforceable against third parties acting in good faith” (Art. 149d(3)).

A Swiss law of trusts was considered and then dropped. On 15 September 2023 the Federal Office of Justice announced that the Federal Council would not draft a dispatch, as a Swiss trust could not win a political majority. The Council of States wrote off motion 18.3383 on 12 December 2023 and the National Council followed on 27 February 2024.

The CHF 5 million threshold and the other tests

A trustee licence becomes compulsory once the activity is commercial, which Article 3 FinIA defines as “an independent economic activity pursued on a permanent, for-profit basis”. Article 19 FinIO turns that definition into figures.

FINMA’s reasoning in notice 01/2024 is that trust assets form a fund economically separate from the trustee, so a single large trust counts on its own. The deadline it gave to trustees caught by this reading ran out at the end of 2024. A company formed today must therefore hold its licence before its first mandate. If you are unsure where you stand, ask a lawyer or FINMA before you accept that mandate.

Trustee company in Geneva: the order of the steps

In Geneva as in every canton, the FinIA lays down four milestones, and the commercial register comes after FINMA:

The word itself is protected. Under Article 13(2) FinIA, the term “trustee” may be used, alone or in compound terms, in the company name, in the description of its business purpose or in commercial documents “only if the corresponding authorisation has been obtained”. A name such as “Lakeside Trustees AG” therefore waits for FINMA’s decision.

The organisational conditions FINMA examines

FINMA checks that the company can run with its own managers, its own funds and its own controls. Every line of the table below is something the application has to document.

For a Geneva AG, the CHF 100,000 is paid up in full: the partial payment of CHF 50,000 allowed for an ordinary AG is not available. Compliance may be handed to an external body. It does not have to be independent from revenue-generating work in a firm with five or fewer full-time positions or less than CHF 2 million of annual gross earnings, provided the business model is not high-risk (Art. 26(2) FinIO).

Supervisory organisation: two of the four are in Geneva

Day-to-day supervision of a trustee lies with a supervisory organisation approved by FINMA (Art. 61(2) FinIA). FINMA’s list, as it stood on 29 October 2026, names four of them: OSIF and SO-FIT, Organisme de Surveillance pour Intermédiaires Financiers & Trustees, both based in Geneva, AOOS in Zurich and OSFINcontrol AG in Zug.

The choice binds you for several years. FINMA only accepts a change of supervisory organisation at the end of the year, on a request filed by 15 November at the latest. The organisation arranges the audit, annual in principle, which it may space out to once every four years, with a compliance report in the years in between (Art. 62 FinIA).

A licensed trustee also counts as a financial intermediary under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Art. 2(2)(abis) AMLA). Identifying the settlor, the beneficiaries and the beneficial owner is therefore central to every inspection.

Managers coming from abroad

A Geneva trustee company has to be run from Switzerland. Article 10(1) FinIA is short: “The financial institution must effectively be managed from Switzerland.” Article 23(2) FinIO adds that the trustee “must be able to be represented by a person who has their place of residence in Switzerland”, who sits on the management body or the governance body. That goes further than the general company rule, under which an AG needs a representative who is “a member of the board of directors or an executive officer” (Art. 718(4) CO) and a GmbH one who is “a managing director or a manager” (Art. 814(3) CO).

For the permit, nationality makes the difference. An EU or EFTA national who settles in Geneva to work on their own account receives a residence permit valid for at least five years, on proof that they are setting up for that purpose (Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons, Annex I, Art. 12). A national of any other state must show that their admission serves the country’s economic interests and that they have sufficient independent income (Art. 19 of the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act).

STEP in Geneva: a voluntary membership

The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) brings together trust and estate practitioners worldwide, and its Geneva branch was formed in 1992. Full members, who carry the TEP designation, commit to a code of professional conduct, continuing education and professional liability insurance. RISTER is among its members.

Membership remains voluntary and carries no regulatory weight. Neither the FinIA, nor the FinIO, nor FINMA’s pages mention STEP, so a TEP must obtain a licence like any other commercial trustee. With international families, STEP serves as a shared reference point.

A worked case: a Dubai-based trustee team in Geneva

Two trustees working in Dubai, one an EU national and the other from a non-EU state, want to administer English-law trusts for client families from Geneva. One of those trusts holds more than CHF 5 million on its own, so under FINMA notice 01/2024 the activity is commercial from that first mandate. They opt for an AG with CHF 100,000 of capital paid up in cash. Both will live in Geneva to provide effective management, and each documents five years of experience and 40 hours of training within the framework of trusts.

The EU partner relies on the free movement agreement; the other applies for admission under Article 19 of the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act before anything is signed. They compare OSIF and SO-FIT, obtain membership, then file their application. The final company name, which includes “trustee”, is entered in the Geneva commercial register only after the licence. Their STEP membership reassures the families without changing anything in the file.

For the steps common to every company, our company incorporation service in Geneva describes how an AG or a GmbH is formed.

Common mistakes

• Counting clients instead of measuring trust assets: one trust above CHF 5 million is enough.
• Filing the name “Trustees AG” with the register before the licence, despite Articles 5(2) and 13(2) FinIA.
• Paying up half the capital of an AG, as ordinary company law would allow.
• Handing management to a Geneva resident with no real role, when the law requires effective management in Switzerland.
• Picking a supervisory organisation in a hurry, with no way to switch before year end.
• Managing portfolios outside any trust without the additional authorisation.

FAQ: trustee company in Geneva

Do you need a licence to act as a trustee in Switzerland?

Yes, for any trustee activity carried out on a commercial basis: Article 5(1) FinIA requires a FINMA licence. According to FINMA, a trust whose assets exceed CHF 5 million at any time is enough to make the activity commercial, as are gross earnings above CHF 50,000 a year or more than 20 lasting relationships.

Is there a Swiss law trust?

No. Switzerland has recognised foreign trusts since 1 July 2007 through the Hague Convention. The Federal Council dropped the plan for a Swiss trust on 15 September 2023, and Parliament wrote off motion 18.3383 in 2023 and 2024.

What capital does a trustee company in Geneva have to put up?

The minimum capital is CHF 100,000, paid up in cash and maintained at all times (Art. 22(1) FinIA). In an AG it is paid up in full, without the partial payment allowed for an ordinary AG. Own funds of at least a quarter of annual fixed costs come on top.

What is a supervisory organisation?

It is the FINMA-approved body that carries out ongoing supervision of trustees and portfolio managers (Art. 61 FinIA). There were four on 29 October 2026: OSIF and SO-FIT in Geneva, AOOS in Zurich and OSFINcontrol AG in Zug. The licence application must prove membership of one of them.

What is STEP membership worth?

Membership of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners is voluntary and signals a professional commitment: a code of conduct, continuing education and liability insurance. It does not replace the FINMA licence, which every commercial trustee needs, STEP member or not.

Can the trustee company be entered in the commercial register before it is licensed?

No: Article 5(2) FinIA allows entry only after FINMA has granted the licence, and Article 13(2) reserves the term “trustee” for licensed institutions. In Geneva, a trustee company therefore appears in the commercial register only once it is licensed. Have the incorporation sequence confirmed by a lawyer or by FINMA.

Sources

• Financial Institutions Act (FinIA), SR 954.1
• Financial Institutions Ordinance (FinIO), SR 954.11
• FINMA, supervisory notice 01/2024, 2 February 2024 (French)
• FINMA, Portfolio managers and trustees (French)
• FINMA, Supervisory organisations (French)
• Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition, SR 0.221.371 (French)
• Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA), SR 291
• Federal Office of Justice, Introduction of the trust into Swiss law, press release of 15 September 2023 (French)
• Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), SR 955.0 (French)
• Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), SR 220, Art. 718 and 814
• Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons, SR 0.142.112.681 (French)
• Foreign Nationals and Integration Act, SR 142.20 (French)