Bär & Karrer Ltd.

Bär & Karrer Ltd.

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Switzerland

Banking, Insurance & Finance: Geneva

Cédric Chapuis

Cédric Chapuis

Cédric Chapuis heads Bär & Karrer's financial services team in our Geneva office. His practice focuses on advising banks and other financial institutions in regulatory, compliance and general business matters. In addition, he regularly advises Swiss and foreign clients in a variety of industries on domestic and international transactions, as well as general corporate and governance matters. He has served on the board of directors of Swiss companies in various industries and is currently a member of the board of several banks. In recent years, Cédric Chapuis has advised a number of financial institutions in connection with internal investigations on cross-border issues and has represented them before the U.S. Department of Justice. Who's Who Legal lists Cédric Chapuis in Banking (Finance and Regulatory) and in Corporate: Merger & Acquisition. Legal 500 points out his expertise in regulatory matters.
Frédéric Bétrisey

Frédéric Bétrisey

Frédéric Bétrisey has a long standing practice in banking and finance. He advises banks and borrowers on all types of banking and finance transactions, including trade and commodity finance, acquisition finance, equipment financing, financial lease and syndicated lending. He also advises financial institutions on a variety of regulatory aspects and assists financial intermediaries in connection with their securities lending and derivative transactions, with a particular focus on the legal issues and documentation relating to netting arrangements and the issuance and distribution of collective investment schemes and structured products. In recent years, Frédéric Bétrisey has also assisted originators, arrangers and trustees in connection with the securitisation of Swiss law receivables, in particular in respect of residential mortgages (RMBS transactions), consumer credits and leasing agreements. Frédéric Bétrisey is a visiting lecturer at the University of Fribourg, where he gives a course on acquisition financing, and at the Swiss Training Centre for Investment Professionals (AZEK), in Geneva.
Andrew M. Garbarski

Andrew M. Garbarski

Andrew M. Garbarski specializes in white collar crime, administrative criminal law, international judicial and administrative assistance, as well as financial and commercial litigation and insolvency. During recent years, Andrew M. Garbarski's work has encompassed, among others, complex multi-jurisdictional financial crime and asset recovery matters, as well as the representation of clients before the Swiss prosecution authorities and courts. Andrew M. Garbarski teaches white collar crime and criminal procedure law as Professor at the University of Lausanne and regularly publishes in his practice areas. Andrew Garbarski is listed by Who's Who Legal as a leader in Switzerland for business crime defence, investigations and asset recovery, and as a "Future Leader" (2018-20) for investigations. Chambers and Partners lists him as "Band 3" in their white-collar crime category. He is also listed as a "Rising Star" in the white-collar crime category by Euromoney Legal Media Group (Expert Guides, LMG Rising Stars 2015, 2016 and 2017). Andrew Garbarski was recently appointed by the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) as member of the Working Group dealing with the modernisation of the Administrative Criminal Law.
Christoph Suter

Christoph Suter

Christoph Suter heads Bär & Karrer's tax team in Geneva. He advises corporate and private clients in complex national and international tax matters. Christoph Suter has broad experience in corporate taxation, in particular M&A, reorganizations, corporate finance, national and international tax planning as well as tax litigation work. He is also an expert in tax topics of the banking and asset management industry, such as the taxation of financial instruments. Christoph Suter is a frequent lecturer at national and international tax conferences and publishes articles on relevant taxation topics.

Team Services

Over the last decade, the regulatory framework for financial services and the players involved in the field have kept evolving. The same is true for financial and capital markets. We have the in-depth understanding of the legal landscape governing the financial industry to advise our clients on the whole range of regulatory and transactional matters.

Our team of experts supports our clients as they navigate the increasing complexity of the legal framework they operate in – from local players to multinational financial institutions, from start-up businesses to long-established companies.
A 360° view of the regulatory playing field
We advise our clients on all regulatory aspects of their business. Our expertise covers all financial institutions including banks, securities dealers, asset managers, investment funds, insurance companies and businesses active in the fintech sector. Our Banking & Finance team collaborates closely with experts from other teams such as M&A, Tax, Employment to provide our clients with comprehensive solutions.
Our areas of expertise include:

  • Advice in regulatory, commercial and transactional matters
  • Licensing of banks, securities dealers, insurance companies and other financial institutions
  • Setting up branches and representative offices
  • Fund structuring, issuance of documentation for investment schemes and products, registration of domestic and foreign investment schemes
  • Representation in enforcement proceedings by regulatory authorities (e.g. FINMA or SIX Exchange Regulation)
  • Acquisitions and disposals of divisions and client portfolios

Our team of Banking & Finance lawyers offers broad industry experience and a proven track record in assisting our clients in optimising their financing structures. We can individually tailor our clients’ financing transactions and negotiate and execute appropriate contracts in relation to the full spectrum of financial products.
Sound and efficient financing advice
Our Banking & Finance team works closely with our own regulatory, litigation, restructuring and other specialists, and also with finance experts in other jurisdictions and representatives of financial institutions in Switzerland and abroad. Our deep product expertise enables us to provide sound and innovative advice on complex issues in relation to the most challenging financing and restructuring transactions.
Our areas of expertise include:

  • Corporate and investment grade lending
  • Leveraged and acquisition finance
  • Syndications
  • Real estate and asset finance
  • Project and infrastructure finance
  • Trade, commodities and export finance
  • Convertible and high-yield bonds
  • Margin loans
  • Securitisation and risk transfers
  • Insolvency and restructuring