Price leader in private wealth management

All those who have fallen flat on their faces often enough in their search for a stock market guru tend to compare asset managers primarily based on cost criteria.

They are pleased that the emergence of digital asset managers in Switzerland has created intense price competition, ensuring that total annual costs – consisting of asset management fees, custody fees and product costs – of less than 0.50% are already possible with mandate assets of CHF 50,000.

Finally, they note with approval that even the first traditional providers, such as Zürcher Kantonalbank with its frankly offering, are showing a willingness to face this new competition in the investment business.

But even within this now intensified price competition, it is still worthwhile to uphold the principles of transparency and competition, meaning that different offers should be compared carefully.

With the Economico marketplace, we have set ourselves the task of evaluating the pricing structure in private wealth management as comprehensively and precisely as possible. Our latest analysis provides several interesting insights into the dynamics of competition:

• The various (digital) asset managers pursue different pricing approaches, meaning that depending on the mandate specification or mandate volume, different providers may offer the most attractive price.
• If entry and exit conditions are also taken into account in addition to recurring costs (for example by comparing the so-called “round-trip” costs), the ranking in the price competition can change significantly.

Relevant qualitative characteristics of the offers relating to organization, product history, investment process and contact options are not evaluated by Economico, but can be found in the offer details.

Conclusion: there is no single price leader in private wealth management. The range of offers can only be assessed based on the specific investment needs or mandate specifications.