| Abstract: | Until recently, Switzerland had an unmatched reputation for the quality of its banking services. Based on a secular tradition of security and a strict banking secrecy enforced by law, Swiss banks have established themselves as leaders in discretionary asset management. Recent studies estimate that about 35 percent of the private off-shore wealth is managed in Switzerland. At the end of 1996, asset management in Switzerland represented about 2.5 trillion Swiss francs (about $2 trillion), provided 3.5 percent of the total added value in the country, and contributed 4.44 billion Swiss francs in taxes, making it one of Switzerland's major sector of activity. But the traditional paradigm on which asset management is based in Switzerland–confidentiality, conservatism, and safety–is undergoing rapid change. Have the profound changes which transformed the banking industry and its production structures over the past several years ended? This is the subject of a large study we carried out with the Institute of Banking and Financial Management at HEC-University of Lausanne. This survey provides an unbiased global reference and a neutral benchmark describing the current state of the Swiss asset management industry. It should help the assessment of specific strategies before considering implementations issues. This interview article contains part of the survey results and identifies a few factors that could prolong the industrial revolution underway. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
