Entity
AG formation
Incorporate the share company a trading house and its banks expect, with real substance.
AG formationTrading & Commodities
in Switzerland.
Switzerland is a global hub for commodity trading, and the reasons traders come here (neutrality, banking, talent) come with scrutiny. Sanctions, source-of-funds and counterparty risk sit on every desk. We set up and support Swiss trading houses with the company, the VAT position, the screening and the banking they need to operate cleanly.
At a glance
Formation, VAT, sanctions screening and banking for a Swiss trading house.
Independent since 2007 · IFLR1000-ranked · offices in Zurich and Zug · one partner per file.
- Entity
- AG with trading substance
- VAT
- Registration & cross-border
- Screening
- Sanctions & counterparties
- Banking
- Trade-finance introductions
The challenge
What this sector has to get right in Switzerland
A commodity trader incorporating in Switzerland usually wants an AG (the share-company form that signals scale and works for trade finance) with enough substance to satisfy a bank and a tax authority. The VAT position is rarely simple: physical and paper trades, cross-border supplies and the question of where delivery happens all shape registration and reporting, and getting it wrong creates both cost and exposure.
The harder edge is risk. Trading touches sanctioned jurisdictions, politically exposed counterparties and fast-moving restrictions, so sanctions screening and counterparty due diligence are not optional add-ons but daily operations. Swiss banks providing trade finance test this hard before they lend, and a trading house that cannot show strong screening and clean source-of-funds will struggle to bank, which for a trader is existential.
We handle the company, the VAT registration, the screening framework and the bank introductions together, so the trading entity is built to pass the checks its own bankers and regulators will run rather than retrofitted under pressure once a deal is live.
What this desk handles
The services this sector uses most
Each links to the service page itself. Most mandates here combine several; one partner co-ordinates them.
VAT
VAT compliance
Register and report VAT correctly across physical and cross-border trades.
VAT complianceRisk
Sanctions screening
Screen counterparties and transactions against sanctions and PEP lists as a daily operation.
Sanctions screeningSetup
Swiss company formation
Stand up the operating entity and its registrations in full.
Swiss company formationBooks
Accounting & bookkeeping
Trade accounting and reporting that hold up to audit and trade-finance review.
Accounting & bookkeepingBanking
Swiss bank account
Prepare the source-of-funds story and introduce the company to a trade-finance bank.
Swiss bank account
Talk to the desk
Speak to a partner who knows the sector
No intake form to a junior, no call centre. The partner who reads your enquiry is the one who has run this structure before, and the one who will own your file. Outline your situation and you will have a considered reply, with the likely route and the next step, within one business day.
Why Goldblum and Partners
Swiss depth, one accountable partner
For a trading house, banking is survival, and banking turns on clean screening and substance. We build the entity, the VAT position and the screening to pass that test, have been independent since 2007, and have been ranked by IFLR1000 every year from 2015 to 2026. One partner co-ordinates the company, the compliance and the bank introduction.
Setting up a commodity trading company in Switzerland?
Tell us what you trade, your counterparties and where you bank. A partner will map the entity, the VAT and the screening it needs, and reply within one business day.