# VSB 20 Art. 68 — Arbitration procedure - **Rubric (DE):** Schiedsverfahren - **Rubric (EN):** Arbitration procedure - **Chapter:** 8. Kapitel — Prüf- und Verfahrensbestimmungen (4. Abschnitt: Schiedsverfahren) - **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: if the contractual penalty (*Konventionalstrafe*) set by the supervisory commission as appropriate is not paid after a deadline has been set, an arbitral tribunal seated in Basel decides finally, on the SBA's action against the bank concerned, whether a breach of the duty of care (*Sorgfaltspflichtverletzung*) exists and on any contractual penalty (*Vertragsstrafe*) to be imposed; the banks choose Basel as place of jurisdiction. Abs. 2: the SBA and the bank each appoint one arbitrator, and the two arbitrators together determine the chairman (*Obmann*). Abs. 3: the proceedings are initiated by the SBA naming the arbitrator it designates. Abs. 4: if the bank does not name its arbitrator within thirty days of receiving the SBA's written notice of the initiation, or the two arbitrators cannot agree on the chairman within thirty days of accepting their mandate, the Appellationsgericht of the Canton of Basel-Stadt makes the appointment at a party's request. Abs. 5–6: if an arbitrator cannot perform the function, the party that appointed them must appoint a new arbitrator within thirty days, failing which the Appellationsgericht of the Canton of Basel-Stadt appoints at the other party's request; if the chairman cannot perform the function, the arbitrators must appoint a new chairman within thirty days, failing which the same court appoints at a party's request. Abs. 7: procedural acts in which a replaced arbitrator took part remain valid. Abs. 8: subject to contrary mandatory provisions of the Swiss Civil Procedure Code, its provisions apply only to the extent that the parties (or, if they waive that right, the tribunal) have not made different procedural rules. Abs. 9: as agents (*Beauftragte*) within the meaning of Art. 47 BankG, the arbitrators must maintain strict confidentiality about facts that became known to them in the arbitration proceedings; the banks cannot invoke banking secrecy vis-à-vis the arbitrators. ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary on the VSB 20 has no section for this article. ## FATF - None directly. ## Swiss counterparts - None in this map. ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 68