Setting up an insurance brokerage in Switzerland is not decided by the legal form. It starts with a legal classification: are you a tied or an untied insurance intermediary? Since the revised Insurance Supervision Act came into force on 1 January 2024, only untied intermediaries are entered in the FINMA register, and they may carry on their activity only if they are registered.
That independence is a statutory definition rather than a marketing position: untied intermediaries have a duty of loyalty towards policyholders and act in their interest. A commercial arrangement that hollows out that position does not create a reputational problem, it removes the classification on which the registration rests. This guide sets out the whole chain, with the figures published by FINMA.
Contents
- Tied or untied: the classification that governs everything
- The four conditions for entry in the register
- Training, accreditation exam and recertification
- What registration costs
- The company: legal form, corporate purpose, governance
- Client information and disclosure of remuneration
- The pitfalls that remove the classification
Tied or untied: the classification that governs everything
The law opens with a deliberately broad definition: an insurance intermediary is any person who, whatever their designation, offers or concludes insurance contracts in the interest of an insurance undertaking or of another person. No commercial title provides shelter, since the text expressly disregards the designation used.
The dividing line follows, and it describes a position rather than a checklist. Untied insurance intermediaries have a relationship of loyalty with policyholders and act in their interest; all other insurance intermediaries are considered tied.
| Item | Untied intermediary | Tied intermediary |
|---|---|---|
| Legal position | Loyalty towards the policyholder, acts in their interest | Any other situation |
| FINMA register | Registration compulsory, the activity depends on it | In principle no longer registered |
| Combining both statuses | Prohibited by law | |
| Third-party remuneration | Must disclose remuneration received from insurers or other third parties | General duty to inform |
| Annual reporting to FINMA | Required | Not concerned |
Two practical consequences follow. The first changed how the register itself reads: tied intermediaries are in principle no longer listed, so the absence of an entry no longer means what it meant before 2024 to a client who checks. The second is the prohibition on combining: the law forbids acting both as a tied and as an untied insurance intermediary. A firm serving some clients independently and others under a mandate from an insurer is not running a hybrid model, it is in breach. Two sister companies run by the same people do not solve the problem either.
The act closes the chain from both sides: it is prohibited to act for insurance undertakings that are not authorised, and insurance undertakings may not work with unregistered intermediaries.
The four conditions for entry in the register
Registration is not a declaration filed after starting: untied intermediaries may carry on their activity only if they are entered in the register. Four cumulative conditions govern it.
- Have a registered office, a domicile or a branch in Switzerland. A foreign firm wishing to serve Swiss policyholders must therefore create that anchor before anything else.
- Enjoy a good reputation and offer guarantees that the obligations arising from the act will be complied with.
- Have the necessary capabilities and knowledge or, in the case of employers, have enough employees who satisfy that requirement. A brokerage does not need every member of staff to be qualified, but it must have enough who are, and it must track them individually.
- Have taken out professional indemnity insurance or provide equivalent financial guarantees.
The third condition drives the timetable, because it runs through an examination.
Training, accreditation exam and recertification
The act leaves it to insurance undertakings and intermediaries to define minimum standards of initial and continuing training by branch, with the Federal Council setting the requirements failing that. Those minimum standards entered into force on 1 October 2024 and are carried by the Swiss Insurance Association for Vocational Training.
The mechanism has two stages. The intermediary must first pass an accreditation examination, offered in several profiles: passing it is a precondition for carrying on intermediary activity in the insurance branch concerned. A recertification examination follows, all insurance intermediaries being called to these online checks every two years.
The order of operations is fixed
Passing the accreditation exam conditions activity in the branch concerned, and entry in the register conditions the right to act as an untied intermediary. A project that starts by signing brokerage mandates, intending to regularise afterwards, is therefore running backwards. If your launch date depends on an examination session, that session sets the opening date, not the other way round. Where your situation sits on the boundary of the definitions, consult FINMA or a specialist lawyer before contracting.
What registration costs
The revision introduced an annual supervisory levy that did not previously exist for registered intermediaries.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| One-off registration fee, natural person | CHF 350 |
| One-off registration fee, legal entity | CHF 750 |
| Annual supervisory levy, amount set for 2024 | CHF 475 |
These amounts are modest against the real cost of a launch: the burden lies in training, in professional indemnity cover and in building the client documentation. The procedure runs through the FINMA platform, and untied intermediaries must then report to the authority annually. No processing time can be announced: it depends on how complete the file is.
Your brokerage in Switzerland
Classification first, company second
Analysis of the tied or untied status against your remuneration model, legal form and drafting of the corporate purpose, entry in the commercial register, coordination of the registration file and of the professional indemnity cover, accounting, VAT and payroll for the firm: My Swiss Company structures the project in the right order.
Scope your project
Swiss Corporate Services Provider in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, serving clients in more than 20 countries.
The company: legal form, corporate purpose, governance
The choice of form follows the usual logic, with one nuance specific to the profession. A sole proprietorship requires no capital and is entered in the commercial register once annual receipts reach CHF 100,000, but it leaves personal assets exposed, which weighs more heavily in an advisory activity carrying professional liability. A limited liability company requires CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital and suits most firms. A company limited by shares requires CHF 100,000, at least CHF 50,000 paid in, and becomes the obvious choice where several partners come in or a sale of the portfolio is contemplated in time. The incorporation steps are those of any Swiss company, set out in our guide to incorporating a company in Switzerland.
The corporate purpose deserves more attention than it usually receives. It must describe insurance intermediation as it will actually be carried on, without adding activities that fall under other regimes for the sake of convenience: investment advice and asset management are governed by the financial services and financial institutions legislation, with their own authorisations. A corporate purpose drafted too broadly creates the appearance of an unauthorised activity.
Finally there is the governance of competence. Because the act allows an employer to satisfy the capability requirement by having enough qualified employees, the departure of a key person can weaken the firm’s registration. That has to be tracked, and anticipated in the training plan.
Client information and disclosure of remuneration
Before the contract is concluded, the intermediary must inform the policyholder on specific points: their name and address, the type of intermediation carried on, stating whether they are tied or untied and, where applicable, naming the insurance undertakings for which they act, how to access information on their training, the identity of the person liable in the event of fault, and the processing of data.
For untied intermediaries there is a further obligation that goes to the heart of the business model: informing the client of remuneration received from insurance undertakings or from other third parties. This is where the coherence of the classification is tested. An intermediary presenting themselves as untied, and therefore acting in the policyholder’s interest, while receiving undisclosed remuneration from an insurer, contradicts the very definition on which their registration rests. The issue is not merely ethical: the classification itself becomes unstable, and with it the right to operate.
The pitfalls that remove the classification
The first is disguised combination: serving some clients as an independent broker and others under a mandate from an insurer. The prohibition is express, and it is not circumvented by a second company.
The second is a commercial arrangement that empties independence of its content: de facto exclusivity, volume targets, remuneration conditioned on placing a particular product. None of these is unlawful in isolation, but together they contradict the position of loyalty towards the policyholder on which the untied status rests.
The third is forgetting to disclose remuneration, often out of habit from a market where it was not required before the revision.
The fourth is starting before registration, or in a branch for which the accreditation exam has not been passed.
The fifth concerns professional indemnity cover: a policy taken out late, or whose limits and exclusions have not been tested against the risks actually placed, does not meet the statutory condition robustly.
FAQ: setting up an insurance brokerage in Switzerland
Does a brokerage need FINMA authorisation?
Not an authorisation in the sense that applies to insurance undertakings, but entry in the FINMA register, which is compulsory for untied intermediaries: they may carry on their activity only if they are registered. Since the revision of the act, tied intermediaries are in principle no longer entered in the register.
How do I know whether I am tied or untied?
The act describes a position rather than a contractual form: untied intermediaries have a relationship of loyalty with policyholders and act in their interest, all others being considered tied. An exclusivity agreement, volume targets or remuneration conditioned on placing a product all shift that position. Combining the two statuses is in any event prohibited.
What conditions must be met for registration?
Four cumulative conditions: a registered office, domicile or branch in Switzerland; a good reputation and guarantees that the obligations under the act will be complied with; the necessary capabilities and knowledge or, for an employer, enough employees who satisfy that requirement; and professional indemnity insurance or equivalent financial guarantees.
What are the FINMA registration fees?
The one-off registration fee is CHF 350 for natural persons and CHF 750 for legal entities. Since 1 January 2024, registered intermediaries also pay an annual supervisory levy, set at CHF 475 for 2024. Training and professional indemnity cover come on top of these amounts.
What training is required to operate as a broker?
The minimum training standards entered into force on 1 October 2024. The intermediary must pass an accreditation examination, offered in several profiles, and passing it is a precondition for operating in the insurance branch concerned. A recertification examination follows, with all intermediaries called to these online checks every two years.
Must a broker disclose the commissions paid by insurers?
Untied intermediaries must inform clients of remuneration received from insurance undertakings or from other third parties. This adds to the general duty to inform, which also covers the intermediary’s name and address, the type of intermediation carried on, access to information on training, the identity of the person liable in the event of fault, and the processing of data.
Sources
- Federal Act on the Oversight of Insurance Companies (Insurance Supervision Act, SR 961.01), articles 40, 41, 43, 44 and 45, status as of 1 January 2024
- FINMA, Insurance intermediaries: register, conditions, fees and reporting duty
- Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA, SR 950.1), for the boundary with financial services
Conclusion
Setting up an insurance brokerage in Switzerland comes down to a chain in which each link conditions the next. The tied or untied classification determines the registration requirement. Registration requires a Swiss anchor, a good reputation, capabilities validated by an accreditation exam and professional indemnity cover. And keeping the classification then depends on the consistency between the remuneration model and the independence claimed. Legal form and capital, which usually take up most of the early discussions, come afterwards.
My Swiss Company SA is a Swiss Corporate Services Provider with offices in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, supporting clients in more than 20 countries with company formation and administration. We frame the classification and the corporate purpose before incorporation, then handle the firm’s accounting, VAT and payroll. To scope your project, let’s talk.
