A friend of mine joined a large Swiss bank and was asked to have his signature in the commercial registrar. A few months later he found his name, home town, and citizenship posted on the internet by Money House. So when he travels all over the world anybody can Google that he is a banker in Switzerland. There is nothing he can do for the rest of his life to have this information removed from the internet.
If someone wants to be relatively discreet, is there a way to set up a business in Switzerland, without having your name, home town, and citizenship posted on the internet by Money House? Money House gets this information from the commercial registrar and under no circumstances would remove it from posting on the internet. Even Data Protection Office is upset about this but cannot do anything about it. Also I was told that if your business goes bankrupt or does not work out, everybody can look this up on the internet FOREVER as Money House will not remove the details. Maybe one could set up a company in Lichtenstein or Luxembourg (the one that is very close to Switzerland) and have it operate in Switzerland? Also do the details of shareholders of the company need to be published all over the internet?
why would data protection office be upset about this? This information is available online from the official Business Registry of Switzerland http://www.zefix.ch
You will find on moneyhouse the infos that are available at the Swiss commercial register, no more. Maybe they don't update it, but you won't find more. therefore if you create a SA (AG), the name of the founders won't be mentioned anywhere. Whereas if you are authorized to sign for the company, you will be mentioned as such, but not as shareholder.
this is not a data protection issue.
HTH
The cantonal online registers of companies (and presumably the MoneyHouse replica) only shows that a company was liquidated. The reasons are not given. Could be good reasons, e.g. merger, acquisition, sole owner dead/retired, etc. Need not be bankruptcy.
Not always - this entry , for example, clearly shows the company went bankrupt.
I can confirm this is true and the only way to keep your ownership of the company private. Until the company floats.
Not only MoneyHouse will copy and probably sell your company data, but numerous other companies will spam you with offers, flyers and even (useless) contracts ready for you to be signed!
Thanks for the clarification.
I know of one instance, where the founders "sold" the insolvent company to a volunteer, who then liquidated. Thus the insolvency stigmatized the volunteer (who did it for a fee!) and not the founders.
Welcome to the concept of public information!
Companies operate in society (they provide products, services, etc). A responsible society to its citizens, will always make company details a matter of public disclosure. I am happy that it is done this way in Switzerland. People who run businesses must be identifiable.
a) if you want to be 'discreet' , you wear dark glasses and take only cash. you don't set up a company.
b) the same information is provided by the Commercial Registry, to anyone in the world with a net connection, so not sure what your beef is with the MoneyHouse.
c) there are good reasons for founders/owners/directors of businesses to be identified/known in a society like CH. If you have good reasons to shun such openness, there's Saudi and Zimbabwe and a few others.
Very common!
I believe Richard Branson may have used this a few times.
RE: if you are authorized to sign for the company, you will be mentioned as such, but not as shareholder.
Thanks. That answers my question. By "discreet" I meant not having your name plastered all over the internet and having all those unsolicited offers from different firms sent. Does every company director need to authorized to sign for the company? If you are not authorised but your business partners are, does that significantly limit your powers within the business and therefore the decision making especially if you own the business with your partners 50%/50%? Would you be giving away too much power to your partners?
Theoretically only the reprensentatives mentioned in the commercial register extract with "a power to sign" (alone or along with s.o.) are authorized to engage the company into an agreement. Theoretically the engagement signed by a non authorized person is not valid. Though it is the duty of your counterpart to verify whether you are authorized to sign. In practice, this is rarely done, except for the official acts (notary...) or with some important customers. The kind of decision making depends whether you act as a member of the board, as a member of the Direction or with a delegated authority. The shareholders' meeting is the highest organ in a SA, therefore shareholders' resolutions basically apply to anyone in the company, authorized to sign or not. Nevertheless, you wouldn't expect the shareholders to decide on the day to day business, which is usually delegated to the Directors.
There is therefore no happy way to remain fully "discreet" and to be the only one to take decisions for the company. The only way to do it is to appoint a representative as a board member (having him sign an agreement which sets forth the way he should act (if needed), which is - basically - only on your instructions). Apart from that, if the board member has single signature and you are not authorized, he could quite manage the company on his own, though he still has to act with diligence (= in line with the interests of the company).
Has anyone requested Moneyhouse to block access requests for their personal data?
Moneyhouse collects financial data on businesses and private residents in Switzerland, and paid members can search the data. You can search and see if you are in their database. They claim 4.5 million Swiss residents, if you filter out children that's most of us! I checked, I am included and I do not want to be.
They now have a way to block access requests, but you have to give them an email address. I am wondering if this is legit, or are they just gathering email addresses to link to my details.
Mr.Mert
start a new hotmail account and only use it with them. problem solved.
Recently I requested that Moneyhouse delete personal information about me from their website, i.e., home address and telephone number, since this data is private. They responded with a link to delete my information which does not work. I subsequently sent them a form letter, which they provided, requesting that they delete my personal data. However, I refuse to attach a photocopy of my passport that they require and Moneyhouse has not deleted my personal data.
The Swiss Data Security Office has already been confronted with the issue of providing identification to Moneyhouse as noted on their website:
"Moneyhouse
Neue Löschungsmodalitäten bei Moneyhouse
16.04.2013 - Seit Kurzem verlangt die itonex ag, Betreiberin des Dienstes Moneyhouse, von Personen, die ein Löschungsbegehren stellen, ihrem Gesuch die Kopie eines amtlichen Ausweises beizulegen. Wir weisen Gesuchsteller darauf hin, dass sie diejenigen Daten, die für die Identifikation des Antragstellers nicht erforderlich sind, abdecken können (z.B. Körpergrösse, Foto, Ausweisnummer). Itonex darf die Ausweisdaten nur zum Zweck der Identifikation verwenden. Eine anderweitige Verwendung ist nicht gestattet."
Additionally, the Swiss Data Security Office has investigated Moneyhouse at least three times, according to their website:
http://www.edoeb.admin.ch/datenschut...x.html?lang=de
My advice: Moneyhouse/ itonex is a company that appears to operate at the edge of legality. Stay as far away from them as possible.
Moneyhouse responded to my inquiries that they received my private address and telephone number from a company called Schober. According to an SRF article in April, Moneyhouse buys personal data from Schober, which Schober collects from various sources, including telephone books, from mail order companies, etc. Here's a quick translation of the SRF article on the process:
"Everyone gives his address somewhere at some time. It may be for a sweepstakes, an order to a mail order business or public sources such as the telephone directory.
This information is then acquired by the direct marketer Schober. The addresses and information regarding sex can be obtained by Schober at the Swiss Post. The Swiss Post obtains the details from moving forms and collects a fee from Schober.
Schober sells the complete, updated records to Moneyhouse. Moneyhouse does not check whether the data is blocked or incorrect. Moneyhouse provides the information on the Internet and makes a business doing so.
The problem
The people who originally gave their data to the Swiss Post, for a sweepstakes or to a mail order company, have never explicitly agreed to their publication on the internet. Neither the Swiss Post, Schober nor Moneyhouse will take responsibility for that.
Schober has now finished working with Moneyhouse, but your data is still on the internet."
http://www.srf.ch/konsum/themen/mult...privaten-daten
For those who have had their private data published without permission on the internet, SRF published the following article on how to proceed:
How exactly is your name and address private? It's available at your Geminde, telephone directories and countless other places. Even your tax return is a public document in some places... I could not careless how many other directories it appears in!
I can't see any company responding to random requests to make changes to their data without first identifying the person making the request... And again the data in your passport is public data.... It's available from other sources and has been copies in the past no doubt.
Unless you are willing to withdraw from society, I don't see how you can keep this private
Jim2007, it is few of us who do not wish their private address and details online. Since this is done WITHOUT explicit consent, there ought to be a way to opt-out. As a matter of fact, all such services should be opt-in (facebook, linkedin) and no private individual should be exposed unless he/she desires to.
Anyone successfully removed themselves from this cesspool?