Local managers rival globals among financial intermediaries in Switzerland
- Domestic asset managers are just as familiar to Swiss intermediaries as the biggest global names, according to Aureum Y data.
- Satisfaction with asset managers is high overall, though one area of support consistently falls short.
- Looking ahead, intermediaries are backing Swiss equities by asset class and index ETFs by management style.
Domestic Swiss asset managers claim half of the top 10 spots for prompted brand familiarity among financial intermediaries in Switzerland, according to new data from Aureum Y, Fundamental Group's dedicated research and insights division.
That's a higher share than in many other continental European markets, including Italy and Spain, where no local firms feature in the top 10 when intermediaries are asked how familiar they are with a predefined list of asset management companies. It suggests Swiss intermediaries hold a stronger affinity for homegrown asset managers than some of their European counterparts.
A local firm also heads our list of the top asset management companies operating in the Swiss market by brand familiarity: 91% of intermediaries surveyed rated it either "quite familiar" or "very familiar", a nine-point lead over the leading international name.
Brand familiarity carries weight beyond mere name recognition within asset management in Switzerland. The research also shows that it's a predictor of propensity to buy, with better-known local and global managers consistently more likely to see intermediaries planning to increase use of their funds over the next 12 months.
The findings come from the Swiss edition of Aureum Y's Global Brand and Engagement Survey 2026, which surveyed a robust, screened panel of financial intermediaries in Switzerland between April and June 2026. The survey also explored a range of other topics including fund selection drivers and satisfaction with asset manager support. This article presents a preliminary overview of the results, with our upcoming Global Brand Survey Report set to name the leading asset managers in Switzerland across different metrics, including the critical category of unprompted brand recall.
How do financial intermediaries in Switzerland decide which funds to research and select?
Brand familiarity gets an asset manager onto an intermediary's radar, but what prompts Swiss financial intermediaries to research a new fund? According to Aureum Y's research, peer recommendations (53%) and client requests (45%) are the two most common triggers. Editorial content, industry events and meetings with salespeople also play an important role in introducing funds for further evaluation.
Once a specific fund is being weighed against a similar one in the same asset class, cost is the most important selection factor, cited by 90% of respondents. Investment philosophy (46%) and transparency (44%) follow some way behind, but still well ahead of most other considerations.
Satisfaction with support from asset management firms
Those decision factors shape which fund gets chosen, but the relationship doesn’t end there. The survey by Aureum Y also explored how Swiss financial intermediaries assess the support they receive from asset managers. Overall satisfaction is high, with 84% describing themselves as "very" or "quite" satisfied. However, satisfaction varies significantly by support area: communications leads the way, with 62% rating it “good” or “excellent”, while training and development scores just 27%.
Which asset classes are intermediaries in Switzerland likely to increase exposure to?
The fund-selection factors above show what influences decisions today, but where do Swiss financial intermediaries expect client portfolios to move next? Swiss equities has the strongest net allocation intent of any asset class tracked by Aureum Y, with 47% of intermediaries planning to increase exposure against just 3% planning to decrease it. Private debt shows the steepest net pullback of any category, with 56% of intermediaries planning to decrease exposure against only 11% planning to increase it.
ETF adoption within asset management in Switzerland
Portfolio shifts aren't only happening at the asset-class level. Aureum Y's data also shows how Swiss financial intermediaries expect their use of different management styles to change over the next 12 months. Index ETFs are the fastest-growing category, with 59% of intermediaries planning to increase client exposure, compared with just 9% planning to decrease it. This points to strong momentum behind ETF adoption in Switzerland.
Active ETFs are already widely used, with 71% of intermediaries holding them in some form. The most common reasons for using active ETFs are cost efficiency relative to other actively managed vehicles (31%), tactical or satellite allocations (29%), and access to niche strategies or specialist exposures (27%).
What this means for asset managers operating in Switzerland
- In the Swiss market, local managers are just as capable of building brand familiarity with financial intermediaries as some of the biggest global names in asset management.
- When intermediaries compare similar funds, investment philosophy is a critical selection criterion, suggesting that a clearly differentiated strategy carries real commercial weight.
- Training and development is an area where intermediaries consistently believe asset managers are falling short, pointing to an opportunity for firms willing to invest in CPD-ready content.
- Index ETFs offer one avenue for future growth in Switzerland, for asset managers already active in that space.
- Regardless of the specific product, what ultimately matters to asset managers in the coming year is whether intermediaries plan to increase use of their funds. Aureum Y's Global Brand Survey, publishing in October, tracks familiarity, unprompted brand recall, perceived quality and distinctiveness for individual asset management firms, and shows at a market level which of these factors most shape financial intermediaries' propensity to buy.
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