Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private Banking — a part of the book Zurich as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos.
Part H describes the businesses that give Zurich its breadth beyond the big banks. The stock exchange, founded in the nineteenth century and today operated by SIX, remains the principal Swiss market for equity and debt capital. Asset managers in Zurich administer a large share of the institutional and private wealth managed in Switzerland. Private banks, independent portfolio managers and family offices serve domestic and international families, and the canton’s tax system shapes the decisions of companies and individuals who consider moving to Zurich.
Chapter I follows the exchange from the interwar period to SIX and sets out the law of the capital market: the Financial Market Infrastructure Act, listing and disclosure, takeover law and market abuse. Chapter II deals with asset management, collective investment schemes under the Collective Investment Schemes Act, the Limited Qualified Investor Fund and sustainable finance. Chapter III describes private banking and the licensing regime that the Financial Services Act and the Financial Institutions Act introduced for portfolio managers and trustees. Chapter IV examines family offices, trusts and foundations in Zurich practice, from the Hague Trust Convention to the reformed law of succession. Chapter V sets out the taxation of companies and individuals in the canton of Zurich, including the minimum tax, the abolition of lump-sum taxation in 2009 and the treatment of inheritances.
Together these chapters show the financial centre as it presents itself to an international client in September 2026. Part I turns to the institutions that give that client legal certainty and to the enforcement risks that accompany it.
This part belongs to Zurich as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.
SIX and the Swiss capital market — overview and summary
A visitor who takes the tram from the main station to the Hardturm quarter in the west of Zurich today reaches the head office of SIX Group on the Pfingstweidstrasse, a building of glass and steel… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Zurich exchange after 1914
The First World War interrupted a market that had grown steadily for three decades. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFrom the ring to the screen
The transformation of the Swiss market from ring to screen has been described in Part F of this book, so that a summary suffices here. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe London experiment: virt-x
The new electronic exchange had scarcely been completed when the Swiss market faced a strategic question that went to the heart of Zurich’s position. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe creation of SIX Group and its present form
The Swiss market infrastructure of the early 2000s was divided among three companies, all owned by the banks. The SWX Group operated the stock exchange and held the Swiss stake in Eurex. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Financial Market Infrastructure Act
The Stock Exchange Act of 1995 had been written for a world of national exchanges. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingListing, prospectus and disclosure
The admission of shares to the main segment of SIX Swiss Exchange is governed by the Listing Rules, a set of regulations issued by the Regulatory Board of SIX and approved by FINMA. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe law of public takeovers
The Swiss law of public takeovers applies to public purchase offers for equity securities of companies with their registered office in Switzerland whose equity securities are at least partly listed… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingMarket abuse
Swiss law combats market abuse on two tracks. The first is criminal law, which punishes intentional insider dealing and price manipulation and is enforced by the prosecuting authorities before the… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe equivalence dispute with the European Union
The most serious political challenge to the Swiss exchange in recent decades came from Brussels. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe position of the Swiss exchange
In international comparison the Swiss exchange is a market of large companies. According to a practitioners’ survey of March 2026, SIX Swiss Exchange had a free-float market capitalisation of around… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLegacy and outlook
Looking back from 2026, the history of the Swiss capital market since 1914 can be read as a sequence of centralisations. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingAsset management, collective investment schemes and pension capital — overview and summary
For most of the twentieth century the word that described Zurich’s financial trade abroad was banking. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingZurich as an asset management centre
The most widely used measure of the industry is the Swiss Asset Management Study, which the Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) publishes each year together with a consulting firm. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFrom investment trusts to the Collective Investment Schemes Act
The idea of pooling the savings of many small investors under professional management came to Switzerland from Britain and the United States. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Collective Investment Schemes Act today
The Collective Investment Schemes Act defines collective investment schemes as assets raised from investors for the purpose of collective investment and managed for their account. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Limited Qualified Investor Fund
For many years the Swiss asset management industry argued that Swiss law lacked a vehicle that could compete with the Luxembourg reserved alternative investment fund (RAIF), introduced in 2016. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFund management companies and managers of collective assets
Since 1 January 2020 the licensing of the institutions that manage funds has been governed by the Financial Institutions Act. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingAccess to the European Union and other markets
The single greatest structural handicap of Swiss asset management is the lack of access to the European single market for funds. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingPension capital as investor
No client group shapes the Swiss asset management industry as much as the occupational pension funds. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingSustainable finance
Since about 2020 the Federal Council has declared sustainable finance a strategic priority for the Swiss financial centre. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingPrivate markets in Zurich and Zug
The growth of private markets over the last three decades has given the Zurich region a second asset management profile beside the traditional bank-owned fund houses. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingTax aspects of funds
Tax law is the second great obstacle to the international competitiveness of Swiss funds after the lack of market access. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLegacy and outlook
The history described in this chapter has left Zurich with an asset management industry that is large, domestically anchored and internationally constrained. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingPrivate banking and independent asset managers under FinIA — overview and summary
Private banking is the business with which Zurich is most often identified abroad, although the city’s financial centre has always been broader than the management of private fortunes. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingZurich’s private banks and wealth managers
Zurich’s private banking landscape combines the global and the local in a way that few centres can match. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe market after 2009
The story of how Swiss private banking lost its reliance on undeclared foreign money has been told in Part G. For present purposes, three consequences matter. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe origins and architecture of FinSA and FinIA
Until 2019 Swiss law contained no general code of conduct for financial services. The duties of a bank or an asset manager towards its client followed from the law of mandate in Articles 394 et seq. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Financial Services Act in private banking practice
FinSA divides clients into three segments. Retail clients, called private clients in the Swiss terminology, receive the full protection of the Act. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Financial Institutions Act: licensing portfolio managers and trustees
FinIA arranges the financial institutions it governs in a hierarchy of licences, often described as a cascade. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingWealth managers leaving the market
The licensing requirement changed the structure of the independent asset management industry within a few years. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFINMA’s supervision and enforcement practice towards private banks
FINMA supervises banks according to a risk-oriented approach that divides them into five categories. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingServing foreign clients: the cross-border rules
Swiss law is liberal towards foreign providers that serve clients in Switzerland. FinSA and FinIA do not require a foreign bank or asset manager to obtain a Swiss licence merely because it serves… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingIndependent managers and custodian banks: outsourcing and division of labour
The relationship between an independent asset manager and a custodian bank rests on three contracts. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingCosts, consolidation and technology
The economics of private banking have changed as much as its law. Regulation has raised the fixed costs of compliance, documentation and reporting for every institution. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Asian dimension
The most important change in the geography of Zurich private banking since 2009 has been the rise of Asia, both as a source of wealth and as a location for booking and managing it. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLegacy and outlook
The Financial Services Act and the Financial Institutions Act have been in force for more than six years. Their legacy can already be described in three parts. The first is codification. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFamily offices, trusts and foundations in Zurich practice — overview and summary
The three preceding chapters of this part described the institutions through which Zurich manages other people’s money: the exchange, the fund industry and the private banks with their satellite of… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe family office in Zurich: concept and market
The term “family office” has no statutory definition in Swiss law. It describes an organisation that manages the wealth and affairs of one or more families, usually combining investment management… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe regulatory status of family offices
The Financial Institutions Act of 15 June 2018 (FinIA), in force since 1 January 2020, subjects portfolio managers and trustees to a licensing requirement with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingTrusts in Swiss law: recognition since 2007
The trust is an institution of English equity, and Swiss private law never adopted it. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingTrustees under the Financial Institutions Act
Before 2020 Swiss trustees were not subject to prudential supervision. Those who acted as financial intermediaries had to join a self-regulatory organisation for anti-money laundering purposes, but… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe taxation of trusts
Because the trust is unknown to Swiss private law, it is also unknown to Swiss tax law. Neither the Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax nor the Tax Harmonisation Act mentions it. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Swiss trust project and its abandonment
The recognition of foreign trusts left Switzerland in a curious position. Swiss banks, trustees and lawyers administered trusts every day, yet a Swiss family wishing to use a trust had to choose a… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Swiss family foundation
Where common law families use trusts, Swiss families have traditionally used foundations. The Swiss Civil Code of 1907 knows two main forms. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingCharitable foundations and foundation supervision in Zurich
Switzerland has one of the densest foundation sectors in the world. At the end of 2024 there were 13,724 charitable foundations, with total assets of approximately CHF 100 billion. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingComparison: the Liechtenstein foundation and the Jersey trust
For Swiss families and their advisers, the Liechtenstein foundation has long been the most natural alternative to the restricted Swiss family foundation. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingSuccession planning, forced heirship and the reforms of 2023 and 2025
Swiss succession law protects close relatives with compulsory portions. Until the end of 2022 the compulsory portion of descendants was three quarters of their statutory share and that of parents one… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingGovernance, disputes and arbitration
The legal instruments described so far give a structure to family wealth. They do not by themselves ensure that the family remains united around it. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingTransparency: automatic exchange of information and registers
The structures discussed in this chapter were long valued for their discretion. Over the past decade, transparency obligations have transformed them. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingPractical structures for international families moving to Zurich
International families move to Zurich for many reasons: the quality of life, the schools, the security, the political stability, the proximity to their business interests in Europe, and, for some,… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLegacy and outlook
The history described in this chapter shows a financial centre that has adapted to the needs of international families without adopting their legal institutions. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingTaxation in the canton of Zurich — overview and summary
Every financial centre is also a tax jurisdiction. The banks, insurers, asset managers, trust companies and family offices described in the preceding chapters of Part H choose where to book profits,… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThree levels of taxation and the federal framework of harmonisation
Switzerland taxes income and wealth at three levels. The Confederation levies the direct federal tax on the income of individuals and the profit of legal entities under the Federal Act on Direct… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingFrom the tax law of 1870 to the Steuergesetz of 1997
Direct taxation came late to Switzerland. England had introduced an income tax in 1799, but in Switzerland the general income tax spread slowly, against persistent federalist reservations. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe Steuerfuss: canton, city and communes
The tax multiplier is the instrument through which the canton and its communes adjust their revenue each year without touching the statutory tariff. Under § 2 para. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingCorporate taxation after the Tax Reform and AHV Financing
For three decades the Swiss answer to international tax competition had been a set of cantonal special regimes. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe OECD minimum tax
The second pillar of the OECD and G20 project on the taxation of the digital economy, agreed in October 2021, introduced a global minimum effective tax rate of 15 per cent for multinational groups… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingThe taxation of individuals
Individuals resident in the canton are subject to unlimited tax liability on their worldwide income and wealth, with the exception of foreign real estate and foreign permanent establishments, which… Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLump-sum taxation and its abolition in Zurich
Taxation according to expenditure, known in German as Besteuerung nach dem Aufwand or Pauschalbesteuerung and in French as forfait fiscal, is one of the oldest instruments of Swiss tax competition. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingInheritance and gift tax
Inheritance and gift taxes are cantonal in Switzerland. The Confederation has no power to levy them. Each canton decides whether to tax transfers on death and by gift, whom to tax and at what rates. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingRulings, administration and tax criminal law
Swiss tax authorities have long been willing to confirm in advance how a planned transaction will be treated. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingZurich, Zug and Schwyz compared
The financial centre of Zurich does not end at the cantonal border. Its labour market extends to Zug, to the Höfe district of Schwyz on the upper part of Lake Zurich and to Aargau. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingRelocation planning for individuals and companies
The Swiss federal structure makes intercantonal relocation a legitimate and frequent means of tax planning. The Federal Constitution prohibits intercantonal double taxation. Read more Zurich · Capital Markets, Asset Management and Private BankingLegacy and outlook
The Zurich tax system in 2026 is the product of a long history and of several recent decisions that have pointed in different directions. Read more