A bold assertion for the world's biggest offshore financial market. But major players in Switzerland are getting ready for the future.
When Bellevue Group on Tuesday presented its provisional 2019 result, the company was eager to disclose the figures for its asset management – because that is what it will focus on in the future. The private banking unit was sold in August to Luxembourg-based Quintet.
Over at much bigger rival Vontobel, CEO Zeno Staub (pictured below) is equally keen to emphasize a change in the direction that the Swiss-based company is taking. Instead of the label private bank, Staub sees his firm as a pure-play investment manager, a provider of investment advice and solutions.
Playing Second Fiddle
Digital investments and direct access to the client: that’s pretty much what some banking experts believe should be the future of wealth management. And in that sense, asset management is the private banking of the future.
A bold thesis for sure, given that Switzerland is the largest offshore financial market with almost 7 trillion Swiss francs in assets under management. Asset management, which typically includes the management and distribution of financial products, hitherto has played the second fiddle only: the business is mainly considered a service provider to the all-powerful private banking.
Fintech Challenge
But the future may be a different matter. Fintechs such as Revolut, N26, and Neon have started to take away market share from the established banking world with fully digital payment solutions. It only makes sense that they will eventually take the next step and approach the investment business too.
They might want to start out with the affluent mass market before taking on the millionaires business. Ironically, these are the segments that private-banking giant UBS has decided to pay more attention to.
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