# VSB 20 Art. 34 — Simple partnerships - **Rubric (DE):** Einfache Gesellschaften - **Rubric (EN):** Simple partnerships - **Chapter:** 4. Kapitel — Feststellung des wirtschaftlich Berechtigten an den Vermögenswerten (2. Abschnitt: Ausnahmen von der Feststellungspflicht) - **Scope:** Banks & securities firms (incorporated via [[GwV-FINMA Art. 35 - Identification, controlling person and beneficial|GwV-FINMA Art. 35]]) - **Status:** In force (since 1 January 2020) ## Description Abs. 1: where, in a business relationship with the partners of a simple partnership (*einfache Gesellschaft*), the partners are themselves the beneficial owners, no declaration on the beneficial owners need be obtained, provided the partners were identified under Art. 16 Abs. 1 lit. a and the partners' entitlement is recorded in writing. Abs. 2: for simple partnerships with more than four partners that aim to safeguard the interests of their members or beneficiaries by joint self-help, or that pursue political, religious, scientific, artistic, charitable, social or similar purposes, the beneficial ownership need not be established, as long as they pursue exclusively those purposes and show no recognisable link to countries with increased risks. Abs. 3: if the partnership declares that it holds the assets at the bank for a specific third party, that third party must be established as beneficial owner under Art. 28 Abs. 1. ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary states that for a partnership under Abs. 2 with a recognisable link to a risk country, the beneficial owners must be established using Formular A; the link is determined case by case. It states that, where Abs. 1 is relied on, an identified partner that is a domiciliary company (*Sitzgesellschaft*) in every case requires a declaration on the beneficial ownership on Formular A, and that the rules on simple partnerships apply to communities of heirs (*Erbengemeinschaften*). ## FATF - [[FATF R.10 - Customer due diligence|FATF R.10]] — related: this article exempts certain simple partnerships from the beneficial-owner declaration. ## Swiss counterparts - [[VSB 20 Art. 27 - Establishing the beneficial owner|VSB 20 Art. 27]] — the declaration duty from which this exemption applies (Art. 27 Abs. 5 reserves Art. 29–36). - [[VSB 20 Art. 28 - Information to be documented|VSB 20 Art. 28]] — Abs. 3 refers to Art. 28 Abs. 1 for the details of a third party named as beneficial owner. - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 46 - Simple partnerships|GwV-FINMA Art. 46]] — identification of a simple partnership under GwV-FINMA Title 5: all partners, or at least one partner plus those with signing authority (parallel to the identification under VSB 20 Art. 16 Abs. 1 lit. a and b). - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 59 - Beneficial owner – principle|GwV-FINMA Art. 59]] — counterpart for GwV-FINMA Title 5 entities: written declaration of the beneficial owner, required there where the contracting party is not identical with the beneficial owner or this is in doubt (Abs. 1). - [[GwG Art. 4 - Establishing the beneficial owner|GwG Art. 4]] — statutory basis for establishing the beneficial owner. ## Related VSB articles - [[VSB 20 Art. 16 - Simple partnerships and trustees|VSB 20 Art. 16]] — referred to in the article text ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 34 - SBVg Kommentar zur VSB 20 (2020), Art. 34