District Court of Zurich rules in favor of Julius Bär

Lenz & Staehelin is representing Bank Julius Bär & Co. AG in proceedings initiated by the German government authority Bundesanstalt für vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben ("BvS"). In these proceedings, BvS has claimed an amount of CHF 97 million plus interest accrued since 1994 (around CHF 107 million to date). BvS has argued that Julius Bär as the legal successor of Bank Cantrade is responsible for unauthorized withdrawals of moneys in said total amount between 1990 and 1992 from a Cantrade account of a foreign trade company established in the former German Democratic Republic. In its judgment of 7 December 2016, the District Court of Zurich dismissed the claims of BvS. The Court namely held that Cantrade had no reasons to question the authority of the account owner’s managing director in light of the specific client relationship and circumstances at the time. The decision is subject to appeal.

The Lenz & Staehelin team representing the bank included Harold Frey and Martin Aebi.