Swiss Legal and Regulatory Solutions for
Global Financial Service Providers

Image

About Nastra Attorneys at Law Ltd.

Nastra Attorneys at Law Ltd. is a law firm in Switzerland focusing on the provision of legal services in the fields of investment products (such as collective investment schemes, structured products and leveraged products), asset management, financial services and institutions regulation as well as data protection law and corporate law. Having advised renowned players in the national and international financial services industry for many years, we offer strong combined expertise. The firm has a lean and efficient organisation and due to its specialisation in the above-mentioned fields we are in daily contact with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, the SIX Swiss Exchange Regulation, the Prospectus Offices and also in regular contact with all relevant industry associations.

The firm’s specialisation in particular regarding investment products has brought us many top rankings in the Chambers Europe Guide, the Chambers Global Guide and other legal directories.

Collective Investment Schemes

We register and list foreign and Swiss collective investment schemes in Switzerland for a wide range of clients. Our firm further advises as to maintaining registration with FINMA and listing of ETFs at SIX Swiss Exchange and also provides advice on the regulatory requirements applicable to the marketing of collective investment schemes in Switzerland.

In addition, we offer an efficient and close cooperation with a number of reputable Swiss representatives in order to ensure compliance with Swiss regulatory requirements. Furthermore, we provide advice on tailoring and negotiating a wide range of agreements specific to the investment fund business, as well as on special transactions such as fund mergers or selection/change of domicile.

Structured Products and Leverage Products

Offering

We provide our clients with advice in relation to the non-public and public offering with or without prospectus duty of structured products and leverage products in Switzerland including the assessment of the investor qualification as well as the drafting of the required legal and regulatory offering documentation, the creation and submission of IBT (Internet Based Terms) XML and the drafting or review of supplementary documents. Our lawyers are specialised in advising on new and complex product structures, also providing additional feedback on the economic parameters of structured products.

Listing

All our lawyers are recognised by SIX Swiss Exchange AG as competent listing specialist representatives pursuant to Art. 58a of the SIX Swiss Exchange “Listing Rules”. This recognition allows us to assist our clients with the listing of structured products and leverage products and handle the respective regulatory requirements such as the creation and submission of the IBT (Internet Based Terms) XML as well as the treatment of life cycle events.

Taxation

Our certified tax experts provide advice on all taxation aspects with respect to structured products and leverage products. They furthermore assist our clients by obtaining tax rulings with the Swiss Federal Tax Administration for new and complex product structures.

Financial Services and Financial Institutions

We not only provide our services to larger financial domestic and foreign institutions such as banks and securities firms, but also to smaller and mid-size firms in the financial sector in relation to any financial service provided in Switzerland or to clients in Switzerland. We provide advice regarding the establishment of appropriate company structures – in particular also for Swiss presences of foreign asset managers – and obtain the required FINMA licenses, provide support in relation to entry in the client advisor register and/or the affiliation with an ombudsman’s office.

Our expertise in the regulatory field covers the various needs of Swiss and foreign asset managers. Besides providing advice to asset managers in relation to the application and maintaining of FINMA licenses and in the area of compliance with regulatory requirements we offer advice on any relevant agreements in the field (investment management agreements, cooperation agreements, distribution agreements etc.).

Data Protection

We are advising clients in general data protection related questions as well as specific data protection queries associated with collective investment schemes and financial services. We thereby focus on implementing Swiss specific data protection regulations into our clients existing GDPR data protection environment, offer health checks and gap analyses on their data protection related documentation and advise on privacy policies and associated topics such as international data transfers, the implementation of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC), Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) and offer support regarding data protection impact assessments.

Our expertise furthermore focuses on specific questions in connection with marketing of collective investment schemes in Switzerland and its data protection related overlapping topics. In this context, we also advise Swiss subsidiaries and branches of international companies and, if required, facilitate the communication with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Officer.

We also offer on-site or web-based workshops on differences between GDPR and the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection and its implementation.

Corporate

Our expertise covers the provision of services regarding the set-up and establishment of corporate structures in Switzerland and, if required, the provision of a domicile for legal entities. This also involves non-executive-director services, holding of shareholders or members meetings as well as assisting with necessary notarisations and applications with the commercial registry.

We furthermore offer corporate housekeeping services by maintaining and drafting corporate documentation and providing health checks on such documentation. We also assist our clients keeping the articles of incorporation, organisational rules and associated documentation up-to-date and compliant with the applicable legal and regulatory requirements in Switzerland.

We also offer on-site or web-based training and workshops for board members, directors, or managing officers to raise awareness of the most important rules and regulation regarding Swiss corporate law.

Image

Image

Christoph Rohr

lic. iur., Attorney at Law

christoph.rohr@nastra.ch

Bio

Partner with Nastra since 2006
Born in 1966, Berne, Switzerland
Admitted to the Bar in 1999
Languages: German, English, French

Education

  • University of Zurich (lic. iur. 1997)

Professional Experience

  • Court clerk with the Zurich District Court
  • Various functions in international banking
  • Associate with Naegeli & Streichenberg Attorneys at Law from 2000 until 2005

Areas of Practice

  • Collective Investment Schemes
  • Financial Services and Financial Institutions
  • Asset Management
  • Structured Products and Leverage Products
  • Corporate

Memberships / Specialities

  • Member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Association
  • Recognised as an issuer representative by the SIX Swiss Exchange (Art. 58a Listing Rules)
  • Member of the German-Japanese Lawyers Association (DJJV)

Bio

Image

Image

Christoph Steiner

Dr. iur., Attorney at Law, LL.M.

christoph.steiner@nastra.ch

Bio

Partner with Nastra since 2006
Born in 1971, Berne, Switzerland
Admitted to the Bar in 1998
Languages: German, English

Education

  • University of Berne (Dr. iur. 2001)
  • Postgraduate studies at New York University School of Law (LL.M. 2002)

Professional Experience

  • Court clerk with a Bernese district court and internship with a law firm in Berne
  • Research assistant for commercial law with Prof. Dr. R. von Büren, University of Berne
  • Foreign associate with Fox Horan & Camerini, New York
  • Associate with Naegeli & Streichenberg Attorneys at Law from 2000 until 2005

Areas of Practice

  • Leverage Products and Structured Products
  • Collective Investment Schemes
  • Financial Services and Financial Institutions
  • Asset Management

Memberships / Specialities

  • Member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Association
  • Recognised as an issuer representative by the SIX Swiss Exchange (Art. 58a Listing Rules)

Publications

  • Co-author: “The Preliminary Draft for the Revision of the Law of the Limited Liability”, in ZBJV 135 (1999), p. 460 et seq.
  • Co-author: “Abrakadabra! - How to change a Limited Liability Company into a Share Company …”, in: Anwaltsrevue 10/1999, p. 10 et seq.
  • Co-author: “Was lange währt wird endlich gut - ein Plädoyer für 1 Rappen Mindestnennwert”, in: SZW 4/2000, p. 177 et seq.
  • Author: “The Assignment of Claims under professional and banking Confidentiality”, Doctoral Thesis, Berne 2001.
  • Author: “Der Einsatz neuer Informations- und Kommunikationstechniken in Publikumsgesellschaften”, in: AJP 2/2003, p. 160 et seq.

Bio

Image

Image

Sandro Mägerli

M.A. HSG, Attorney at Law

sandro.maegerli@nastra.ch

Bio

Partner with Nastra since 2024
Born in 1986 in Switzerland
Admitted to the Bar in 2018
Languages: German, English, French

Education

  • University of St. Gallen (M.A. HSG in Law & Economics, 2013)

Professional Experience

  • Legal Engineer Trading & Sales with Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd.
  • Junior Associate with Nastra
  • Associate with Nastra from 2018 to 2024

Areas of Practice

  • Collective Investment Schemes
  • Structured Products and Leverage Products
  • Financial Services and Financial Insitutions
  • Asset Management
  • Corporate
  • Business & Commercial Law

Memberships / Specialities

  • Member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Association
  • Recognised as an issuer representative by the SIX Swiss Exchange (Art. 58a Listing Rules).

Bio

Image

Image

Jürgen Köpfer

Attorney at Law, CAS Financial Market Law, CAS Data Protection Law

juergen.koepfer@nastra.ch

Bio

Associate with Nastra since 2015
Born in 1983, Basel, Switzerland Admitted to the Bar in 2013 Languages: German, English

Education

  • Swiss Bankers Association and European Bank Training Network (European Foundation Certificate in Banking - EFCB 2005)
  • University of Basle (BLaw 2008, MLaw 2010)
  • University of Zurich (Certificate of Advanced Studies in Financial Market Law, 2016)
  • University of Zurich (Certificate of Advanced Studies in Data Protection Law, 2023)

Professional Experience

  • Traineeship with UBS Wealth Management and Investment Bank
  • Internship with Deloitte Global Employer Services and Business Tax Services
  • Court clerk at the Civil Court of Waldenburg
  • Junior Associate with Meyerlustenberger Lachenal, Zurich
  • Associate with Kellerhals Attorneys at Law, Basel

Areas of Practice

  • Structured Products and Leverage Products
  • Collective Investment Schemes
  • Asset Management
  • Data Protection
  • Corporate
  • Business and Commercial Law

Memberships/Specialities

  • Member of the Zurich and Swiss Bar Association
  • Recognised as an issuer representative by the SIX Swiss Exchange (Art. 58a Listing Rules)
  • Member of the Swiss Lawyers Association

Bio

Image

Image

Diana Mägerli

Paralegal ZHAW

diana.maegerli@nastra.ch

Bio

Paralegal with Nastra since 2015
Born in 1991, Winterthur, Switzerland
Languages: German, English, French, Portuguese

Education

  • Commercial apprenticeship at Allianz Suisse Insurance Company Ltd, Wirtschaftsschule KV Winterthur (2007 - 2010)
  • Certificate of Advanced Studies Paralegal ZHAW, ZHAW School of Management and Law (2014 - 2015)

Professional Experience

  • Insurance Administrator Customer Service with Allianz Suisse Insurance Company Ltd
  • Insurance Administrator Claims Department with Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.
  • Assistant with Nastra

Areas of Practice

  • Collective Investment Schemes
  • Structured Products and Leverage Products

Bio

Image

Image

Markus Bamert

Certified tax advisor

markus.bamert@nastra.ch

Bio

Independent tax consultant with Nastra since 2006
Born in 1971, Tuggen, Switzerland
Languages: German, English

Education

  • Commercial diploma
  • Certified fiduciary
  • Certified manager public transport
  • Certified tax expert

Professional Experience

  • Commercial clerk in a fiduciary company
  • Mandate leader in a fiduciary company
  • Controller in family business
  • Tax consultant with Naegeli & Streichenberg Attorneys at Law
  • Set up own tax consulting firm

Areas of Practice

  • Tax consultancy for Structured Products, Leverage Products and Collective Investment Schemes
  • Swiss tax reporting for Foreign Collective Investments Schemes

Bio