Switzerland’s financial market regulator said on Friday that a bank singled out by the US Treasury for dealings with “illicit actors” linked to Russia and Iran had been liquidated.
On Thursday, the US Treasury moved to cut the Zurich-based MBaer Merchant Bank off from the US financial system, accusing it of having “funnelled over a hundred million dollars through the US financial system on behalf of illicit actors tied to Iran and Russia”.
In a statement published on Friday, the Swiss banking and financial market regulator Finma said a liquidation order against MBaer had taken effect after the bank dropped an appeal.
Finma said it moved to strip the bank of its licence three weeks ago after concluding “the bank does not have an adequate structure in place for combating money laundering, thus enabling clients to circumvent official asset freezes”.
The regulator said that during the period when MBaer was appealing the orders it was prohibited from communicating publicly on the measures.
It added that liquidators had been appointed.
The regulator said it had opened enforcement proceedings against MBaer in 2024 after discovering links with clients under Russia sanctions.
Finma added it had discovered “specific indications that MBaer Merchant Bank AG actively aided clients in circumventing official asset freezes”.
Some 98 percent of its bank’s assets came from high-risk clients, according to the regulator.
The bank held $6.4 billion in assets at the end of 2025 for some 700 customers.
MBaer was established in 2018 by Michael Baer, a great-grandson of Julius Baer, the founder of the Zurich-based private banking group.
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