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.
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.
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%.
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.
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%).
A financial intermediary is a professional who selects, recommends or invests in funds on behalf of clients, typically acting as the link between an asset management firm and the end investor. Among intermediaries surveyed by Aureum Y in Switzerland, 49% work as wealth managers, private bankers or relationship managers, 20% as discretionary portfolio managers, and the remainder as financial advisers, fund analysts or fund selectors.
Aureum Y surveyed a robust, screened panel of financial intermediaries in Switzerland between April and June 2026. Respondents were screened to ensure they were directly involved in fund selection or provided investment advice to clients. The survey combines prompted questions, such as ratings of familiarity with specific asset managers, with unprompted open-text questions that allow respondents to name managers and describe their views in their own words.
Familiarity shapes which asset managers get considered in the first place, well before cost, philosophy or transparency come into play. It also correlates strongly with propensity to buy, meaning better-known managers are more likely to see intermediaries planning to increase their use of their funds, making visibility a genuine commercial asset, not just a reputational one.
Yes. Aureum Y, Fundamental Group's dedicated research and insights division, runs its Global Brand and Engagement Survey across multiple markets each year, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, allowing asset managers to compare how their brand performs in different regions.
Yes. The Global Brand Survey Report names every asset manager included in the research, along with individual scores and rankings across each measure covered, giving clients a clear, named view of how they and their competitors are perceived.
Aureum Y is Fundamental Group’s dedicated research and insights division, built on more than two decades of specialist experience in global investor research across individual, intermediary and institutional investor audiences. With extensive quantitative and qualitative capabilities, the team has delivered 250+ survey projects across 15+ audiences, managing a panel of 100k B2B professionals and tracking 3,600 media titles and 1,800 brands. Operating across 12 markets from four international offices, Aureum Y provides rigorous, culturally attuned insights that help asset management companies understand their audiences, refine their strategies and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape. Follow us on LinkedIn to keep updated on the latest news.
The Global Brand Survey 2026 Report for Switzerland, including complete brand rankings, publishes in October. To find out more, contact [email protected].