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Swiss Federal Supreme Court: No duty to return retrocessions in execution-only relationships
News
13 February 2026
It is undisputed that, in the context of discretionary asset management and investment advice, retrocessions must be returned to clients. By contrast, the legal treatment of so-called execution-only relationships has long been controversial in legal doctrine and cantonal case law. In particular, the Commercial Court of Zurich and the Commercial Court of Berne had affirmed a duty to return retrocessions even in execution-only relationships.
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has now taken a different view. While the rules governing mandates, and in particular Art. 400 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, are in principle applicable to commission relationships, the duties to account and to return under mandate law primarily serve to prevent conflicts of interest. The mere fact that the mandatary is enriched in connection with the mandate is not sufficient. In the execution-only relationship at issue, no conflict of interest was found, and the retrocessions therefore did not have to be returned to the client.
SFC 4A_149/2025 of 12 January 2026, designated for publication.
Practice Group Banking and Finance
An article by Martina Reber
