Independent wealth managers, family offices and the ecosystem — overview and summary

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Geneva wealth management is not confined to the banks. Around them revolve hundreds of independent wealth managers, family offices serving one or several families, trustees, lawyers, fiduciaries, estate planning advisers, insurance brokers and technology providers. This ecosystem is one of the strengths of the financial centre, through the diversity and depth of the services it offers, and one of its particularities, through the weight of non-bank players. This chapter describes the independent managers and their regulatory transformation, the family offices and their rise, the other members of the ecosystem and the relationships that bind them together. It concludes Part E with an assessment of contemporary Geneva private banking.

In five sentences

Independent wealth managers, born in Geneva in the 1970s and 1980s, manage their clients’ assets without holding them, relying on custodian banks.
The Financial Institutions Act made them subject to authorisation; by February 2025, FINMA had approved 1,532 applications out of 1,864, and around 650 managers had given up, reducing the number of players by 26 per cent.
Family offices coordinate all the affairs of one or several families, from the consolidation of the estate to family governance, and Geneva ranks among the leading European centres of this sector, in competition with Asia and the Gulf.
The Geneva ecosystem brings together banks, managers, family offices, lawyers, notaries, fiduciaries, trustees, insurers, technology providers and supervisory institutions, in an interdependence that creates synergies and shared risks.
Contemporary Geneva private banking is more concentrated, better regulated and more transparent than that of the golden age, and it now bases its model on quality and compliance.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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Independent wealth managers, family offices and the ecosystem — overview and summary

In five sentences

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