FINMA stories

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
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FINMA is the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, an entity part of the federal government. When you see FINMA on the news, it means the compliance of people and organizations with financial laws is being investigated.
I have no horse in this race. Anyway, stories of financial misconduct are fascinating since they reveal a lot about human nature.

As first post, there are news today about two companies investigated by FINMA: real estate startup Le Bijou Holding and the fund Moonshot Ventures. Sadly, I cannot afford a subscription to the Handelszeitung, so all I can share from journalist sources is a headline.

But, there are public sources such as this website from the Swiss government that compiles info from all cantonal commerce registries. FINMA had taken control of Moonshot Ventures at the end of Sep 2024. Also took control of Le Bijou Holding at the end of October 2024.

Why do I care? Because both companies showed up in my social media feeds 2 or 3 years ago, meaning they paid for marketing targeted at retail investors. So, it’s possible that a lot of people may be losing sleep over this.

This is a developing story, more details will come up soon. For the moment, a video from happier times:

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Happier times? He doesn’t know where they had all the information from regarding his personal preferences and needs?
That would scare the shit out of me :rofl:
Maybe it’s not FINMA but the data protection official who should take a close look at Le Bijou.

Strange only the Handelszeitung is reporting on this. Ich checked as well as I think this information should be accessed by the public.

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Interesting things are happening behind closed doors. The story continues after a week, blick.ch links to this blog. tippinpoint.ch. It’s some news from a tenant in Bern being asked for the keys of a property rented to the company(ies) under investigation.

I guess renting commercial property does not have the same level of protection for tenants as renting a place to live.

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Finma employees have executive power?!

An owner of a flat can’t even just take off the keys of a tenant and kick them out. Not to mention threaten them!

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Very weird story.

Even if Moonshot isn’t the rightful owner and doesn’t represent them, it is still undeniably in the actual owner’s interest (and everybody else’s) that the rent/lease payments continue to flow and therefore that the restaurant opens as planned.

And of course, as curley mentioned, there’s the question of executive power. It might made for a very interesting story if she’d called the police to report him for trespassing, and have him held in place until they arrive.

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It is weird. I don’t see myself kicked out of the apartment just because the landlord was allegedly involved in financial misconduct.

Anyway, the events and the investigation are unfolding in real-time.

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It seems journalism blogs work. There is a press release from FINMA:.

Apparently, the issue is selling unregistered securities to non-qualified investors in Switzerland. An example of an unregistered security is a bond not registered in any public exchange. The definition of individual qualified investor is having 2 million francs in net financial investments. Non-qualified is less than 2 million.

there is a strong suspicion that the persons involved in the proceedings as a group have carried out several activities that are prohibited under financial market law without the necessary authorisations, namely activities as a securities firm and as a derivatives house, the acceptance of public deposits and the corresponding advertising for this, and the issuing of structured products.

What about the restaurant in Bern? The plot thickens, there is no rental agreement, it’s only a sublease. So, what are the rights of people subrenting?

The “Supernova” restaurant project, which has been mentioned several times in the media, is located in the property at Schauplatzgasse 22 in Bern. This property is owned by OCSP AG, which is a company affected by the enforcement proceedings. There is a specific suspicion that the purchase of this property was financed with funds from an activity that is prohibited under financial market law. Contrary to the representation sometimes spread in the media, there is no rental agreement between the operator of the “Supernova” restaurant and the owner of the property. Instead, the operator of the restaurant bases her claims on a sublease agreement between her and a natural person directly affected by the current enforcement proceedings. FINMA has concrete evidence that the sublease agreement may have been concluded illegally.

The symbolism here
I have no words. I can only quote the wiki:

A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star
The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or a black hole, or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula.

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That would explain why the restaurant had to be closed immediately. If the main renter loses the contract, the sublease can no longer be fulfilled. Plus, it seems to have been a verbal agreement only. For four floors! Calling that naive doesn’t do her justice.

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What a strange sentence. How can one have concrete evidence something “may” have happened. Either the evidence is solid or it is not.

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Why? The evidence might be something like a written contract, but you need a definitive verdict to make the suspected crime a certainty.

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There is a difference between the word “concrete” and “solid”

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Automated translation from this sentence:

Dabei verfĂŒgt die FINMA ĂŒber konkrete Anhaltspunkte, wonach der Untermietvertrag unrechtmĂ€ssig zustande gekommen sein könnte.

Anyway, my basic knowledge of German tells me the “sein könnte” still crashes with “konkrete Anhaltspunkte”.

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It doesn’t crash. The problem is you (or some bot) translated “Anhaltspunkte” with evidence when it is ‘indications’/‘clues’.
‘Finma has concrete clues available/at hand which indicate the subletting contract may have/could have been concluded illegitimatly’

I even gave you a choice or two to please your ear which ever way desired.

My conclusion out of this: I’m not worried about bots and KI :smiley:

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Financial misconduct processes are very very slow.

This one caught my eye because I went to a dry cleaning shop in a Migros mall near my home. I’ve read the news of the failure of some Migros business, but I did not expect to see half the mall empty. Something interesting may be happening at Migros.

Pay expensive consultant for due diligence before buying a company and then complain publicly some years later about “accounting irregularities”. If the DD consultants did not review the accounting, what is the purpose of a DD in first place?

Another curious thing, lawsuit flying around and no mention of FINMA which precisely investigates “accounting irregularities”.

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FINMA is short for Finanzmarktaufsicht, finance markets supervision. How well a dental chain keeps their books is out of scope.

The story looks pretty amateurish for Migros if isn’t outright fraud by the sellers.

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Ahhhhh politics.

FINMA released a report this week telling that more or less says 40% of new mortgages do not follow recommended guidelines. Banks are ALLEGEDLY giving loans to people who are not in a good position to pay back.

One guy working to the one and only too bit to fail bank Switzerland said FINMA is a bunch of ****** who only say this because they could not stop CS collapse. Of course, what else would a banker say?Acknowledge wrongdoing? Naaaa, it’s always unforeseen events with unpredictable consequences. TA says this guy is ALLEGEDLY speaking as free individual, not as UBS employee.

So, a regulatory agency with very poor credibility for now is raising an alarm. The winners of recent times tell regulations are too tight. Ahh, almost yesterday:

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We have been there done that
When the shit hits the proverbial fan then who picks up the bill?

Printing money and accelareting debt will fall of a cliff next month, next year or next century.

We are like rats in a maze with no way out

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It’s not that bad, the Earth is much larger than Switzerland :sweat_smile:

However, agree, it’s banksters game. The banks shape the reality, not the consumers. It’s enough to increase loan interests to 5-10% and suddenly there’s no galloping inflation. But banksters wants the opposite to maximize their profit. If not FINMA we would have seen regular waves of consumer bankruptcy because people are naive.

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The interest rate for consumer credit is capped at Saron plus 10pp. For overdraft it’s 2pp higher. Saron meanwhile is close to SNB’s interest rate.

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The FINMA decision over capital requirements for “too big to fail” UBS is due tomorrow.

The news from the international perspective are borderline boring
 Switzerland poised to pitch tough new capital rules for UBS | Reuters

However, it’s more interesting from the local perspective. A window to understand Swiss culture, translation of article from TA. The motto seems to be: NOT IN PUBLIC!

Also, traditions must be respected: there is always a way blame the Auslanders :rofl:

Bank CEO Sergio Ermotti complained in almost every appearance about how significant a disadvantage this could be for UBS. Lobbying intensified, influence was exerted on the Swiss media, and the swipes against the Finance Ministry and FINMA increased. A small example: FINMA CEO Stefan Walter is also known internally as “Stefan the Steel Helmet,” which is not meant in a benevolent way.

When the lobbying had little effect, the bank resorted to more powerful means. International media threatened to pull UBS out of Switzerland, only to suddenly bring up a voluntary restriction on the investment bank’s size. At that time, the relationship between the bank and the Federal Council was broken, according to sources in the Finance Ministry in Bern.

This interpretation also fits with the fact that UBS wanted to be informed of the outcome by the Federal Council one day before the decision (which is out of the question for the Federal Council). How other bankers view UBS

It’s completely un-Swiss to tear each other apart like this, says the head of a smaller bank. Another bank CEO believes that the problems should be solved in private, but certainly not publicly. And a third bank CEO admits that he’s glad he doesn’t have UBS’s problem – if the capital buffer is imposed on you, you only have unpleasant options: either shrink certain business areas or fight back. And you can do that quietly or loudly.

UBS opted for the loud option. This also has to do with the fact that it employs Anglo-Saxon communications experts. For them, such minor escalations are part of the business. This is harmless, say those inside UBS. If they really wanted to, the bank would run commercials on television and social media, like in the US. They would love to see such a commercial: How do you make the topic of equity capital sexy?

But perhaps it all stems from a misunderstanding. UBS claimed it could negotiate with the federal government and insisted on a deal. In reality, however, the Federal Council makes the decision alone, accompanied by the expertise of Swiss National Bank Chairman Martin Schlegel and FINMA Chairman Stefan Walter, who advocate for a strong capital base.