Swiss regulator FINMA said on Wednesday that it had ended proceedings against Zurich asset manager Wendelspiess Partners AG and imposed multi-year professional bans on individuals involved.
The enforcement action caps a case that became public through SRF’s reporting in January 2025, which alleged that client assets had been concentrated into a single vehicle, the WP Multi-Strategy Fund, rather than diversified as clients expected. The fund held around CHF 83 million, according to Beobachter.
Earlier reporting said the firm both recommended and managed the fund, creating a conflict-of-interest problem. Clients who had requested low-risk strategies said they could not access their money when the fund hit a liquidity crunch.
FINMA opened enforcement proceedings in early 2025. Wendelspiess Partners AG entered bankruptcy proceedings in March 2025, public records show.
Personal accountability
The professional bans are significant for Swiss-regulated firms. FINMA is signalling that weak suitability processes and conflicted fund governance can result in sanctions against individuals as well as the corporate entity.
The case moved from media scrutiny to enforcement proceedings to bankruptcy to individual bans in roughly 18 months.
