General Terms and Conditions  

(Valid from January 2025)

1 Scope of application

(1) The General Terms and Conditions shall apply from the conclusion of the contract between SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG, Feldstrasse 22 in 8200 Schaffhausen, Switzerland, UID: CHE-175.681.186, (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Financial Services Provider’) and the client (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Client’), subject to the proviso that the Client is aware of these General Terms and Conditions prior to the conclusion of the contract. The scope of these General Terms and Conditions includes in particular offers, contracts and orders in the business areas defined by the financial service provider between the financial service provider and the client, which involve the provision of financial services against payment. Orders are also valid verbally.

(2) The financial service provider shall submit an offer, contract or order for financial services to the client. This shall set out the financial service provider's service features, the financial service provider's fees, the intended transaction and/or concept. 

(3) The client and the financial service provider agree that all correspondence, offers, contracts or orders and the General Terms and Conditions of SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG can also be exchanged and agreed by digital means. The client and the financial service provider shall provide each other with valid e-mail addresses. If one of the e-mail addresses does not work, the client or the financial service provider undertakes to provide a valid e-mail address within 48 hours. This provision does not exclude the use of post.

(4) The offer, contract or order is delivered to the customer upon receipt in the customer's e-mail inbox. 

(5) The offer, contract or order must be accepted by the customer within the specified period. 

(6) If the customer does not accept the offer, contract or order within the period indicated in the offer, contract or order, the financial service provider shall not be obliged to provide the specified services and the offer shall be forfeited to the customer upon expiry of the period. 

(7) The client shall not be entitled to claim fulfilment or other expenses or reimbursement of expenses from the financial service provider if the latter fails to accept the offer, contract or order within the period specified in the offer, contract or order.

(8) Upon written acceptance of the offer by the client, a contract is concluded between the client and the financial service provider on the basis of the General Terms and Conditions of SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG stated in the offer, contract or order and in each case cumulatively with the General Terms and Conditions of SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG stated here. 

(9) The General Terms and Conditions of SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG become an integral part of the respective offer, contract or order and are agreed between the client and the financial service provider.

(10) The offer, contract or order shall enter into force immediately upon signature by both parties, unless the start of the contract term has been agreed otherwise in the offer, contract or order. 

(11) The services and fees specified in the offer, contract or order are agreed between the financial service provider and the client upon conclusion.

(12) The client declares his agreement that the General Terms and Conditions shall also form the basis for all further offers, contracts and orders, unless otherwise agreed.

(13) In the case of offers, contracts and orders between the financial service provider and the client that are subject to the general statutory provisions, the General Terms and Conditions shall apply insofar as they do not conflict with the provisions of the overriding law.

2. duty of the customer to provide information and cooperate

(1) For the careful and conscientious provision of its services, the financial service provider requires all relevant information and documents available to the client in order to make a well-founded assessment of the individual framework conditions and to be able to make a recommendation for further action and to ensure the fulfilment of the contract and order.

(2) The client is obliged to provide the financial service provider with all documents required for the performance of the services in good time, in full and without special request and to inform the financial service provider of all circumstances that may be relevant to the provision of the services.

(3) The financial service provider may make the information and documents received from the client after thorough enquiry the basis for the further provision of its services to the client without verification. The client cannot hold the financial service provider liable for the consequences of missed information.

3. remuneration

(1) All services rendered by the financial service provider (in particular the study of files, preparation and organisation of meetings, preparation of consulting concepts, meetings with banks, etc.) shall be remunerated by the client. This list is not exhaustive) shall be charged on the basis of the time spent and the agreed tariff.

(2) Unless otherwise agreed, the financial service provider's fee shall be due for payment after 20 days. In the case of orders extending over a period of more than four weeks, the financial service provider shall be entitled to invoice the fee on a monthly basis. In the event of late payment, reminder fees may be charged and, after a second reminder, interest on arrears of 5% p.a. may also be charged. All other costs for invoice collection shall be borne by the customer in all cases.

4 Ongoing support

(1) If an express agreement on ongoing advice is concluded, this agreement between the financial service provider and the client shall apply for an indefinite period and may be terminated by either party, taking into account the provision in the OR. Cancellation must be in writing.

(2) Termination for good cause with immediate effect shall not be affected by paragraph (1). Good cause shall be deemed to exist in particular if the

a) the relationship of trust is permanently clouded, even unilaterally,
b) there are important reasons that speak against the correct fulfilment of the order,
c) other significant breaches of contract.

5 Notifications to the customer

(1) Brokerage orders (e.g. insurance brokerage or real estate brokerage) must be placed in writing after prior consultation with the financial service provider. The placing of orders of any kind by telephone or fax is only valid if the client expressly agrees to this in writing. E-mails between the financial service provider and the client shall be deemed to be a written declaration.

(2) The financial service provider is obliged to report on the results of its activities on an ongoing basis - depending on the circumstances - and to provide the client with all relevant documents. By uploading documents to the client's personal cloud account and notifying them by e-mail, they shall be deemed to have been delivered to the client.

(3) The address last notified to the financial service provider shall be deemed to be the delivery address.

(4) The client acknowledges that the transmission of e-mails may, under certain circumstances, result in data being lost, falsified or disclosed. The financial service provider shall only accept liability for these consequences if it is at fault. E-mails are only deemed to have been delivered after express confirmation of receipt by the financial services provider. Replying to an e-mail shall also be deemed confirmation of receipt.

6 Copyrights

The client recognises that every concept and documentation created by the financial service provider is a work protected by copyright. Private and in-house reproduction, distribution, changes or additions are permitted. All others require the written consent of the financial service provider.

7 Disclosure of documents, liability

(1) The client undertakes to provide all necessary information and documents required for the correct fulfilment of the contract or order by the financial service provider truthfully, completely and in good time so that proper processing by the financial service provider is possible.

(2) The financial service provider is obliged to draw the appropriate conclusions, prepare the concept or execute the order on the basis of the information provided to it with the necessary expertise, care and diligence in the interests of the client. The financial service provider shall not be liable if the client fails to provide information or information that is relevant to the advisory concept or the fulfilment of the order.

(3) The financial service provider shall only be liable for any losses incurred by the client in the event of wilful intent or gross negligence. 

(4) The financial service provider shall not be obliged to commission its own expert opinion to verify the correctness and completeness of the concepts or the fulfilment of the order.

(5) The Financial Service Provider assumes no liability for contracts which the Client concludes with third parties.

(6) The financial service provider accepts no liability for damages arising from the use of the internet-based document platform (cloud).

8 Confidentiality, data protection

(1) The financial service provider is obliged to treat all information that becomes known to it as a result of the business relationship with the client as confidential and to keep it secret from third parties. The financial service provider is also obliged to impose this obligation on its employees. Any disclosure of data shall be subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act and the strictness of banking secrecy.

(2) The client agrees to the correct use of his/her data in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Data Protection Act.

(3) The financial service provider cannot be held liable for damages in connection with cybercrime (data theft, etc.).

9 Authorisation

If necessary in individual cases, the customer shall also authorise the financial service provider to request information on account and custody account balances and credit accounts from banks on his behalf and to release these institutions from data and banking secrecy vis-à-vis the financial service provider. Finally, the financial service provider shall use a separate power of attorney.

10. guarantees of business success

(1) The financial service provider shall not be liable to the client and other third parties involved for the execution or enforceability of issues - of whatever type and quality - of

- any capital market products,
- securities of any kind, 
- equity instruments
(all of which are referred to in these terms and conditions as ‘securities’) 

with supervisory authorities, licensing bodies, issuing partners, banks, insurance companies and other supervisory, distribution and licensing bodies involved in the capital market.

(2) The financial service provider shall not be liable to the client and other third parties involved for planned successful placements or brokerage successes with third parties for issues of securities, irrespective of the fact that such were named or even agreed. 

(3) The financial service provider shall not be liable to the client and other third parties involved for planned and agreed maturities which were named or even agreed before and after an issue of securities.

(4) Claims for pecuniary loss, reimbursement of costs or compensation or reimbursement - of any kind whatsoever - arising from Section 10 (1), (2) and (3) are excluded by the client against the financial service provider.

11 Final provisions

(1) Amendments and supplements to these General Terms and Conditions must be made in writing. This also applies to the requirement of written form itself. Verbal collateral agreements do not exist.

(2) Should individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions be or become invalid or unenforceable, this shall not affect the remainder of the contract. In such a case, the invalid or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a provision that comes as close as possible to the economic purpose of the unenforceable or invalid provision.

(3) The contracts between the financial service provider and the clients are subject to Swiss law. The place of jurisdiction is in any case Zurich/Switzerland.

SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG
Feldstrasse 22 - CH Schaffhausen
[email protected], www.shswiss.com,  www.schweizerhypozheken.com 
© by SH Schweizer Hypotheken AG - 01/2025