Under Art. 10 para. 3 CISA, qualified investors are defined as professional clients within the meaning of Art. 4 paras. 3-5 and Art. 5 paras. 1 and 4 FinSA:
a) Financial intermediaries within the meaning of the Banking Act of 8 November 1934 (BankA), the Financial Institutions Act of 15 June 2018 (FinIA) and the CISA;
b) Insurance undertakings within the meaning of the IOA;
c) Foreign clients who are subject to prudential supervision equivalent to the persons and entities pursuant to a) and b);
d) Central banks;
e) Public authorities and pension institutions with professional treasury operations(*);
f) Companies with professional treasury operations(*);
g) Large companies;
h) Private investment structures established for high-net-worth private clients (**) with professional treasury operations (*).
High-net-worth private clients (**) and private investment structures established for them may declare in writing or in some other textually verifiable form that they wished to be regarded as professional clients (opt-out).
Under Art. 10 para. 3ter CISA, “qualified investors” also includes private clients for whom a financial intermediary pursuant to Art. 4, par. 3 lit. a FinSA or a foreign financial intermediary subject to equivalent prudential supervision provides asset management or investment advice as part of a long-term asset management or investment advisory relationship, unless they have declared that they do not wish to have qualified investor status . The declaration must be made in writing or in some other textually verifiable form.
*) The professional treasury requirement is fulfilled if a company or the investment structure set up for a high-net-worth private client has entrusted the management of the financial resources to a professionally qualified person with experience in the financial sector, either within or outside the structure.
**) A person is deemed to be a high-net-worth individual if he or she credibly declares that he or she:
a. has, on the basis of personal training and professional experience or comparable experience in the financial sector, the knowledge required to understand the risks entailed in the investments and has assets of at least CHF 500,000; or
b. has assets of at least CHF 2 million.