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Glossary

Investment Advice

Investment Advice is the personal recommendation by a financial services provider to a client to buy, hold, or sell specific financial instruments. Unlike Discretionary Asset Management, the client makes the investment decisions themselves; the adviser provides recommendations based on the individual Risk Profile.

At a glance

01

Investment Advice is a regulated financial service under FinSA (Art. 3 lit. c) when tailored to client needs.

02

Providers must carry out a Suitability Assessment (Art. 12 FinSA) before giving advice and document the result.

03

Investment Advice is not the same as Discretionary Asset Management: with advice, the client decides for themselves.

Frequently asked questions

A recommendation qualifies as Investment Advice when it relates to a specific financial instrument, is tailored to the client's personal situation, and can reasonably be understood by the client as an individual recommendation. General market information or analysis without a purchase recommendation is not considered advice (FinSA Art. 3 lit. c).

Part of the topic

Finanzberatung

Sources: FINMA · Systematische Rechtssammlung (fedlex)