Banks Switzerland close to number one for international wealth management

Switzerland remains the most popular country for managing the assets of international private clients. However, according to a Deloitte study, its lead over the UK and the USA is now only very narrow.

The massive outflows due to the CS crisis have contributed to this. According to the "Deloitte International Wealth Management Center Ranking" study published on Wednesday, assets of international clients worth 2174 billion dollars were booked in Switzerland in 2023.

This equates to around 21 percent of assets under cross-border management worldwide. Four years ago, however, the proportion was still 24 percent, according to Deloitte.

According to the study, the international wealth management centers of the UK (2166 billion) and the USA (2109 billion) had only slightly fewer assets. Hong Kong (1004 billion) and Singapore (730 billion) followed some way behind.

Massive money withdrawals due to CS crisis

Without the CS collapse and the outflows, Switzerland's lead would be significantly greater, according to the Deloitte study. According to the figures, CS suffered an outflow of client assets amounting to 183 billion dollars between mid-2022 and mid-2023. The situation did not stabilize until the third quarter of 2023 with the UBS-CS merger.

Switzerland is still the preferred wealth management center, especially for clients from Europe and the Middle East, writes Deloitte. However, the collapse of Credit Suisse has shaken the stability of the Swiss banking market. Asset inflows from these two regions have not yet fully recovered since then.

According to the authors of the study, Switzerland can continue to benefit from its strengths in "fundamental areas" such as infrastructure, property rights and data protection. Accordingly, it maintains its top position in terms of competitiveness in the Deloitte study.

However, the consequences of the CS crisis as well as tax and regulatory adjustments threaten to weaken Switzerland's position, the authors of the study warn.

Local banking is becoming more important

According to the study, cross-border assets under management worldwide amounted to 10.1 trillion dollars last year, which corresponds to an increase of 2.9 percent. Overall, however, international asset management has become less important: the share of "global financial assets" was 3.7 percent, compared to 5.3 percent ten years ago.

Conversely, according to the study, "local banking" is becoming more important than "international banking". Global asset managers are likely to focus even more strategically on local business in the future, concludes Deloitte.

SDA