Every financial advisor who is not subject to comprehensive supervision must be registered in the Advisor Register.
Our compact e-learning course provides practical and efficient training. Upon completion of the course, you can have yourself registered as a client advisor in the Advisor Register.
Anyone offering financial services in Switzerland who is not already subject to comprehensive supervision must register in the Advisor Register. The competent authorities are registration offices recognized by FINMA.
The tasks of these registration offices include, among others, reviewing applications, managing data, and ensuring that legal requirements are met. Each registration office decides on entries and deletions of advisors and monitors compliance with obligations by registered persons.
It is also important that the registration office receives and updates any changes to an advisor’s data. This ensures that the information is always correct and up to date.
An exception applies only if financial advisors provide their services exclusively to professional clients. In this case, registration can be waived.
The Advisor Register therefore provides transparency and strengthens investor protection while defining clear processes for advisors and clients.
You can think of the Advisor Register as an official list. This list includes all financial advisors who are allowed to work in Switzerland and are not under other strict supervision. For clients, this means: if a person is listed in the register, you know they are familiar with the necessary rules and have completed proper training.
Why is this important? Many people do not fully understand the world of finance. They rely on advisors to help them invest, save, or insure themselves. To protect clients, there are clear rules — called FIDLEG. These rules define, for example, what information an advisor must provide, how to deal with conflicts of interest, and how to document client data.
Anyone offering financial services must therefore either be supervised by an authority or register in the Advisor Register. By registering, the advisor shows that they know the regulations. After registration, they receive a certificate — proof that they have been trained and can comply with the rules.
An exception only applies to advisors who work exclusively with professional clients — meaning large companies or very experienced investors. In those cases, registration is not required.
For everyone else, the rule is: Without entry in the Advisor Register, you may not provide financial advice to private clients in Switzerland. This protects clients and builds trust.