Operating in Switzerland? Speak with a security consultant.
Switzerland runs three genuinely different close protection markets under one flag. Bern’s federal and diplomatic quarter is an intelligence and information-security problem more than a physical one. Geneva mixes UN and WTO espionage risk with HNWI wealth-targeting. Zurich is almost purely a private-banking-driven, financial-crime-adjacent environment with a hard seasonal spike each January. A client assuming Swiss security needs are uniform across the three cities is planning against the wrong risk.
No national licence: the cantonal system explained
Switzerland has no single federal private security licence. Each canton sets its own rules. Geneva applies the Concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité of 1996, under which managers and agents need authorisations from the cantonal police. Zurich requires an operating permit from its Security Directorate under the Police Act, and accepts a valid permit from another canton for the same services. Bern requires an operating permit from the cantonal police, and firms from other cantons or abroad must notify it first. Clients should confirm the permit that applies in the specific city, not assume national coverage exists. Our bodyguard hire coverage across all three cities runs through operators holding the relevant local cantonal authorisation.
Bern: information security over physical threat
The Swiss Federal Parliament, Federal Council and several UN-affiliated bodies sit in Bern, and the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, NDB, has reported rising foreign intelligence activity targeting Switzerland generally. For principals attending federal or intergovernmental meetings, digital hygiene and counter-surveillance discipline at the meeting venue matter more than the physical protective posture, which our advance security survey and counter-surveillance services address directly.
Geneva and Zurich: two different wealth-security problems
Geneva’s UN, WHO, ICRC and WTO concentration creates active espionage interest around multilateral negotiations, layered on top of a private banking sector that draws its own HNWI-targeted property crime. Zurich strips out the diplomatic layer and leaves the financial one: UBS’s home city, where residential burglary and luxury vehicle theft targeting private banking clients is the documented risk pattern, intensifying sharply during the WEF-adjacent period each January. Our executive protection teams calibrate discreetly for whichever of these two profiles applies.
Source: Concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité; Kanton Zürich, Betriebsbewilligung für Private Sicherheitsunternehmen; Bern SDPG (BSG 551.4). FCDO Travel Advice: Switzerland (2026). Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, NDB, Situation Report 2025. OSAC Switzerland Country Security Report 2025.
For full threat, zone and regulatory detail city by city, see our Bern close protection guide, Geneva security briefing, and Zurich close protection guide.
Cities We Cover
Bern
Low riskThe federal capital, seat of the Swiss Parliament, Federal Council and numerous UN-affiliated bodies. The working risk here is informational rather than physical: an intelligence-dense diplomatic environment around parliamentary sessions, plus predictable protest activity in the Bundeshaus quarter during sitting weeks.
View city guide →Geneva
Low riskHost to the UN European headquarters, WHO, ICRC and WTO, and one of the world's leading private banking centres. Espionage risk around multilateral negotiations and discreet HNWI-targeted property crime in the Cologny and Champel districts define the client population far more than the city's very low ambient crime rate does.
View city guide →Zurich
Low riskSwitzerland's financial capital and UBS's home city, where private banking wealth concentration drives residential and vehicle-targeting property crime as the dominant risk category. Demand spikes sharply each January around WEF-adjacent meetings held in the days surrounding the Davos summit.
View city guide →Security Regulations
Firearms
Carrying a firearm in public needs a federal carrying permit (Waffentragbewilligung) under article 27 of the Weapons Act of 20 June 1997. It is granted only to a person who credibly shows the weapon is needed to protect themselves, others or property from a real danger and who passes a test on weapon handling and the law; it lasts at most 5 years and is valid across Switzerland.
Licensing
There is no federal licence for private security in Switzerland; each canton regulates it. Geneva applies the Concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité of 18 October 1996 (with Fribourg, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel and Jura), under which managers and each agent need an authorisation from the cantonal police. Zurich requires an operating permit from its Security Directorate under its Police Act. Bern requires an operating permit from the cantonal police under its 2018 Act on private security services (SDPG).
Foreign Operators
Each canton sets its own rule for outside firms. Geneva requires an authorisation for companies with no seat in a concordat canton; Zurich accepts a valid permit from another canton for the same services; Bern requires advance notification from companies from other cantons or abroad. Ask any provider for the permit of the canton where the work takes place. Separately, companies based in Switzerland that provide security services abroad must declare them in advance to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs under the Federal Act on Private Security Services Provided Abroad (SR 935.41, in force since 2015).
Sources, checked : Concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité, RSG I 2 14 (SILGeneve); Règlement concernant le concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité, RSG I 2 14.01 (SILGeneve); Kanton Zürich, Betriebsbewilligung für Private Sicherheitsunternehmen; Gesetz über das Erbringen von Sicherheitsdienstleistungen durch Private (SDPG), BSG 551.4; Swiss Weapons Act, article 27 (text, droit-bilingue.ch); Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Act on Private Security Services Provided Abroad.