Dismissal of the Administrative Court Appeal against the Ruling of the Federal Banking Commission

Facts

The appellants, [A.] and [B. AG] , were sentenced to liquidation by the Federal Banking Commission (FBC) due to unauthorized securities trading activities and dissolution of the de facto branch of a foreign securities dealer in Switzerland. The FBC had found that [B. AG] was to be considered a foreign securities dealer with activities in Switzerland and that [A.] 's branch in Winterthur was dissolved and placed in liquidation.

The appellants had filed an administrative court appeal against this ruling and requested that it be revoked or declared null and void. They claimed that the FBC was incompetent and that the ruling was formally flawed.

Considerations

The Federal Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the FBC's ruling. It found that the FBC was competent to issue the ruling and that the appellants' formal objections were unfounded.

The court further found that the FBC was authorized to order the liquidation of [A.] 's branch in Winterthur, as it had exercised an unauthorized, licensable activity. The FBC had sufficient concrete evidence that [B. AG] and the investment club [A.] exercised a licensable activity, and the investigations had shown that the appellants had not actually engaged in activities falling under the Investment Fund Act.

The court also found that the FBC was authorized to take the necessary measures to eliminate the unlawful situation and that the…