FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FINSOM is competent to handle mediation requests from clients or employees of companies affiliated to Commercial Mediation and/or Workplace Mediation.
By law and according to FINSOM’s regulations, affiliated companies are required to inform their clients and/or employees of their affiliation:
- At the beginning of a business or working relationship
- In the event of a complaint
- At any time at their request
FINSOM does not publish a list of affiliated service providers. However, if the above information is not provided by the financial service provider :
- Clients or employees can contact us.
- Clients of Swiss or foreign financial service providers subject to the Financial Services Act (FinSA) are referred to the competent Supervisory Authority or Registry of Advisers.
- Employees in the Swiss financial sector can contact the competent cantonal occupational health and safety authority or State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
In addition to mediation (Art. 75 FinSA), a mediation body recognised by the FDF publishes an annual activity report (Art. 86 FinSA), decides on the admission or exclusion of a company (art. 82 FinSA), informs and exchanges information within the framework of market supervision (Art. 83 and 88 FinSA).
As usual, Swiss law remains faithful to a regulation by principles. In order to interpret the provisions of the FinSA or to understand the role of the Ombudsman Office and its legal mandate, it is necessary to read the World Bank’s 2012 report on mediation in the financial sector, which is a main basis of the Swiss regulation.
The financing of a basic infrastructure necessary to manage the affiliations and the information duty of the mediation body (Art. 83 FinSA), regardless of the number of proceedings, is shared collectively by the affiliated companies while respecting the principle of causality (art. 80 FinSA).
Each company also finances procedures that concern it. According to art. 75 FinSA, the mediation procedure must be inexpensive or even free of charge for the client. It should also be cheaper than legal proceedings for the company.
FINSOM applies these principles to both Commercial Mediation and Workplace Mediation.
The reverse onus, the litigation costs fund and the arbitral tribunal, which were highly controversial instruments in the consultation, were abandoned, the last two in favour of more moderate fee regulation. The rule on the collective application of the law (group settlement procedure and class action) should not be limited to financial service providers, which is why it is being considered as part of the implementation of 13.3931 (Birrer-Heimo) by Parliament. On the other hand, the mediation bodies are being strengthened. According to the FinSA, all providers must also join a mediation body that already exists or is to be created.
By law, the mediation procedure must be inexpensive or even free of charge for the client. This leaves the choice to the mediation bodies to charge a symbolic contribution to the client or not.
The main purpose of a financial contribution from the client would be to prevent abusive requests for mediation. FINSOM refrains from fixing a financial contribution to the client for the following reasons, among others:
- Such fees can discourage clients from using the mediation body, which is not the aim of the law.
- The law sets sufficient conditions to avoid abusive complaints or requests for mediation by clients.
Financial services providers as defined under the Financial Services Act (FinSA).