Asset management is becoming more important than private banking, study shows

A total of approximately 300 employees from the Swiss financial sector were surveyed, from which almost 40% assume that asset management will be more important than private banking for the Swiss financial center by 2031. While in 2019 only 19.8% of those surveyed were of the opinion that Swiss banks have a significant position in asset management, this is at over 28% in 2021. 9 out of 10 respondents rate the asset management sector as an important or very important branch within the Swiss financial sector. 

According to the survey, almost 60% of those surveyed consider sustainable investments to be the central topic of the future. The participants also attribute great importance to passive investments, as almost half of those surveyed assume that the volume of passive investments will continue to increase in the coming years. In contrast, the participants rate the topics of robo-advisors, absolute return and smart beta strategies as almost irrelevant. 60% of the survey participants are ‘satisfied’ or even ‘very satisfied’ with the performance achieved by asset managers since March 2020, while only 15.5% were either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘less satisfied’.