This Is What Swiss Investment Apps Cost

In Switzerland, time tends to stand somewhat stiller. That has also applied to the digitization of asset management. But in the meantime, asset management services offered exclusively via digital channels – sometimes referred to as robo advisors – have also begun to catch on in Switzerland.

The digital asset management providers that responded to an inquiry by moneyland.ch collectively manage around 3.3 billion Swiss francs of assets. That figure does not account for providers that did not provide the requested information. It is likely that around 6 billion francs of wealth is being managed by all Internet-based Swiss asset management services combined.

The costs of digital asset management services

moneyland.ch studied the costs of digital asset-management services in Switzerland. On average, the cost of investing 25,000 francs is 252 francs per year, or around 1 percent of the invested capital.

The average total cost of services that do not include consultation is 0.92 percent per year. Offers that do include investment advisory services are somewhat more expensive, with an average cost of 1.15 percent per year.

The total costs are composed primarily of flat fees for asset management, and the costs of the investment products used (passively-managed investment funds, for example). The average asset management fee is 0.69 percent per year. The average investment product costs are 0.32 percent per year.

That makes digital asset management services much cheaper than the conventional asset management services offered by Swiss banks. “On average, digital asset management services are more than twice as cheap as conventional mandates,” says moneyland.ch CEO Benjamin Manz. “The clear cost advantage speaks in favor of digital asset management over the long term.”

These are the cheapest services without investment advisory

The providers with the lowest costs, as per the moneyland.ch analysis, are: Findependent, with total costs of 146 francs per year; and True Wealth, with total costs of 163 francs per year. These are followed by Kaspar (178 francs), Swissquote Invest Easy (203 francs), Clevercircles (210 francs), and Cleverinvest (213 francs). You can find more information in table 1.

Table 1: Investment apps without advisory services

Total costs for an investment amount of 25,000 francs. Rounding differences are possible. *Radicant: The flat fee is discounted by 50% if you subscribe before January 31, 2024. Kaspar: Pricing from October 1, 2023.

These are the cheapest services with investment advisory

Of the investment apps with investment advisory, PSS (Komfort Plus) with costs of 208 francs, and Selma Finance and Descartes Finances with costs of 225 francs per year, are the most affordable. They are followed by Digifolio (258 francs) and Alpian (278 francs).

Table 2: Investment apps with advisory services

Total costs for an investment amount of 25,000 francs. Rounding differences are possible.

Lower rates for higher amounts

Many service providers charge lower flat rates for higher amounts of assets under management. These include Alpian, Clevercircles, Findependent, Inyova, Kaspar, Postfinance, Radicant, Selma, True Wealth and Volt. So the amount you want to invest also plays a role in determining which service is the cheapest.

Example: For an investment amount of 500,000 francs, the cheapest service providers are: Findependent, with total costs of 2643 francs per year; Inyova with 3000 francs of costs; True Wealth and Clevercircles with 3200 francs of costs; and Kaspar with 3300 francs of costs. For even larger amounts, True Wealth is the most affordable.

Other factors to consider

Apart from the costs, there are some other important criteria to consider when choosing a digital asset management service, including the features and user-friendliness of the app. Before you invest large amounts, it is worth trying out your prospective service provider first. Around half of Swiss digital asset management services give you the option of opening a free trial account to test the interface without investing real money.

Some apps offer sustainable investments, which will likely gain significance in the future. But ultimately, the investment performance is also important, and there is no way to accurately predict future performance. One option is to open several accounts with different asset management providers and invest smaller amounts of money with each of these. After a time, you can use the experience gained to decide on your favorite.

More on this topic:
Robo advisors in Switzerland explained
Compare Swiss asset management services now