Dr. Reto Luthiger

Counsel, Zurich

Schiffbaustrasse 2 | P.O. Box | CH-8031 Zurich | Switzerland

Schiffbaustrasse 2 | P.O. Box | CH-8031 Zurich | Switzerland
T +41 58 552 01 92
reto.luthiger@mll-legal.com

Profile

Reto Luthiger is a member of the firm’s banking & finance team and a co-head of the DLT | Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies industry group. He advises and represents domestic and international clients in financial markets regulatory and civil law matters as well as proceedings before FINMA, self-regulatory organisations (SROs), supervisory organisations (SOs) other authorities and courts. He has wide-ranging experience in banking, anti-money laundering, financial services, financial markets infrastructure and collective investment schemes law. Reto Luthiger acts as CEO of the Self-Regulatory Organization of Swiss Association of Investment Companies (SRO SAIC) and serves as member of the board of Vita Joint Foundation. He has sound knowledge particularly in banking, AML, FinTech, DLT/blockchain, FATCA and AEOI and made his PhD in the area of AML. He closely follows the newest developments in these fields. He is fluent in German and English.

Practice Areas

Industry Groups

Rankings & Awards

“He is very polite and knowledgeable – very detail-oriented. He has a good business mindset, not just in legal terms” – Chambers and Partners, FinTech, 2022
“Very entrepreneurial. Deep business understanding. High level of commitment. Very engaged for the client. Very responsive and thinking along” – IFLR 1000, 2021-22
“Know-how, approachability, flexibility, sense of humor and solution-oriented mind-set” – IFLR 1000, 2021-22
“Reto Luthiger is held in high esteem by market commentators who note he is easy to work with and very creative” – WWL, Fintech, 2021
“Fintech specialist Reto Luthiger has the ability to provide expert advice based on profound knowhow of the regulatory landscape in Switzerland” – WWL, Blockchain, 2021
“Reto Luthiger is a capable, excellent and creative advisor with broad interests and knowledge and this also in DLT and other new fintech and regtech matters” – The Legal 500, FinTech 2021
“Reto is very proficient in various regulatory legal points in the financial services sector” – Chambers and Partners, FinTech, 2021
“Reto is the younger guy there, but he’s showing a lot of promise” – Chambers and Partners, FinTech, 2021

Deals & Cases

Advising Värdex Suisse in structuring and introducing its new cryptonow voucher cards available for purchase in retail stores enabling its purchasers to exchange Swiss Francs into crypto currencies
Advised the Self-Regulatory Organization of the Swiss Association of Investment Companies (SRO SAIC) in becoming a recognized SRO by FINMA and in all AML aspects, including conducting AML-training sessions for its members
Advises the Swiss Association of Investment Companies (SAIC) in all legal matters
Advised Bitcoin Suisse Ltd regarding various legal agreements and regulatory matters
Advised Modum regarding a swap of its outstanding token against tokenized shares (equity)
Advises Parity Group being establishing an international payment services ecosystem with regard to structuring and all Swiss financial market regulatory aspects
Advised a credit card acquiring institute regarding its general terms and conditions, AML-relevant aspects and onboarding of platform clients
Advised a credit card scheme regarding the introduction of dynamic currency conversion
Advised a credit card acquiring institute regarding new general terms and conditions for e-wallets as well as AML-aspects in
connection with additional card holders and corporate cards
Advised an life insurance company regarding tax offences as AML-predicate offence and related AML-duties of care
Advises a private bank regarding all contractual and financial market regulatory aspects of the implementation of digital assets business
Advised an international bank regarding the implementation of a transaction and communication monitoring system in all aspects of financial market regulations
Advised several clients from the traditional financial sector as well as from the DLT/blockchain and Fintech sector in connection with FINMA pre-inquiries and enforcement procedures (including appeal proceedings)
Advised several ICO/TGE/STO projects with regard to corporate/transaction structuring, token classifications, FINMA-no action letters and other financial market regulatory aspects