Anyone opening an account in Switzerland for a company, a foundation or a third party will sooner or later meet Form A. It serves to establish the beneficial owner of assets and goes back to the Swiss Bankers Association’s Agreement on the Swiss banks’ code of conduct with regard to the exercise of due diligence (CDB, in German VSB). Many self-regulatory organisations use equivalent forms.
When it is required
In principle the form is obtained when the contracting party is not itself the beneficial owner or when there is doubt about it. For domiciliary companies it is the rule, because such a company holds assets but is not the person they ultimately belong to. It is also appropriate for unusual powers of attorney or where the contracting party’s financial circumstances do not fit the assets.
What it contains
Surname, first name, date of birth, nationality and residential address of each beneficial owner, plus the contracting party’s signature. The contracting party thereby declares in writing to whom the assets belong and undertakes to report changes. The form states that wilfully providing false information is punishable as forgery of a document under Article 251 of the Swiss Criminal Code. The warning is deliberate: the declaration has evidential value.
The siblings: K, T, S and I
Operating companies use Form K instead, which records the controlling person. Trusts use Form T, with details of settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiaries. Form S covers foundations and similar arrangements, Form I life insurance policies with separately managed accounts and custody. Choosing the right form is not a formality, because each answers a different question.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is a form completed once and never looked at again, although the structure has changed. The second is uncritical acceptance: the form is a declaration by the contracting party that the financial intermediary must test for plausibility. If it does not fit what is known about the origin and size of the wealth, further enquiries are needed, for example into the source of wealth.
Form A and the transparency register
Since 1 October 2026, financial intermediaries can use the Swiss transparency register as an additional source. The form does not replace the register, and the register does not replace the form: the register records control over legal entities, Form A the entitlement to specific assets. In family structures with domiciliary companies, these two answers quite often differ.