Wealth management
Cross-border wealth management maintaining growth level seen last year
For 2024, the experts surveyed for the Swiss Banking Outlook expect growth of 5%, slightly higher than last year. Switzerland’s political stability and robust currency make it an ideal place to store wealth in times of geopolitical uncertainty.
The experts forecast growth of around 5% in cross-border wealth management for 2024. While the consensus figure is higher than last year’s result, the range of estimates is in fact broad, possibly due to high levels of geopolitical uncertainty and the high market volatility of recent years. For example, the cross-border wealth management business grew by 15% in 2021 but contracted by 13% in 2022 and then posted a roughly 4% increase last year. The experts believe that this year’s continued growth at a similar level to last year reflects Switzerland’s increasing importance as a safe haven with political stability and a solid currency. Uncertainty in the US and Europe is making Swiss wealth management more attractive for certain customer segments, whereas others are unsettled by the debate over Switzerland’s neutrality. The demise of Credit Suisse might also have a temporary negative impact on the country’s reputation in cross-border wealth management.
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It is also clear from the financial market experts’ views on the most important factors for this area of business that political stability is seen as paramount, followed some way behind by a stable currency and open borders. Relatively little importance, meanwhile, is attributed to low interest rates and the re-shoring of assets to the customer’s home country.