Digitization is bringing changes to the asset management sector. An increasing amount of Swiss wealth is now being invested using asset management services offered through digital channels. Growth in Swiss digital asset management is slow, but steady.
The term robo-advisor is often used to refer to these services. But in most cases that is a misnomer, because most of these asset management services do not use algorithms to make investment decisions. Instead, they primarily invest their customers’ money in low-cost, passive exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Costs of 1 percent per year
Independent online comparison service moneyland.ch compared the fees of Swiss asset management offers against each other. On average, a customer has to pay 249 francs per year for the management of a 25,000-franc portfolio. That cost equals around 1 percent of the invested assets. The average cost of using digital asset management services is 0.91 percent for those which do not include consultation, and 1.13 percent for those that do.
The total costs are made up of the asset management fee plus the costs of investment products used. The average asset management fee across all offers is 0.73 percent. The costs of investment products average 0.26 percent. By comparison: The average asset management fee across conventional asset management services is well above 1 percent per annum, and the additional product costs are also significantly more expensive. “So the fees charged by investment apps are much lower than those you pay for classic asset management, and are an affordable alternative to costly private banking,” observes moneyland.ch CEO Benjamin Manz.
The cheapest investment apps
Findependent is the most affordable of the offers analyzed by moneyland.ch, with total annual costs of 146 francs. It is followed by True Wealth with 170 francs in total annual costs. Clevercircles, Cleverinvest, and Kaspar are just slightly more expensive, with costs totaling 213 francs per year for each of these (see table below).
Of the asset management apps which include consultation, Selma Finance is the cheapest at 225 francs per year, followed by Digifolio (258 francs) and Descartes Finance (300 francs).
Offers without consultation: Annual costs for a portfolio worth 25,000 Swiss francs
| Service provider |
Asset management fee |
Investment product costs |
Total costs |
| Findependent |
CHF 101 |
CHF 45 |
CHF 146 |
| True Wealth |
CHF 125 |
CHF 45 |
CHF 170 |
| Clevercircles |
CHF 163 |
CHF 50 |
CHF 213 |
| Cleverinvest |
CHF 125 |
CHF 88 |
CHF 213 |
| Kaspar |
CHF 213 |
CHF 0 |
CHF 213 |
| Swissquote Robo-Advisor |
CHF 188 |
CHF 63 |
CHF 251 |
| Inyova |
CHF 300 |
CHF 0 |
CHF 300 |
| Raiffeisen Rio |
CHF 163 |
CHF 150 |
CHF 313 |
Offers which include consultation: Annual costs for a portfolio worth 25,000 Swiss francs
| Service provider |
Asset management fee |
Investment product costs |
Total costs |
| Selma Finance |
CHF 170 |
CHF 55 |
CHF 225 |
| Digifolio (BLKB) |
CHF 188 |
CHF 70 |
CHF 258 |
| Descartes Finance |
CHF 213 |
CHF 88 |
CHF 301 |
| Postfinance E-asset management |
CHF 188 |
CHF 113 |
CHF 301 |
| Volt (Vontobel) |
CHF 240 |
CHF 95 |
CHF 335 |
True Wealth is the cheapest for investing larger amounts
Some services, like True Wealth, lower their asset management fees when the value of your portfolio crosses certain thresholds. Because of that, True Wealth is cheaper than Findependent for investing larger amounts (500,000 francs or more). Clevercircles, Kaspar, Selma Finance and Volt also have tier-based systems so that fees are proportionately lower if your portfolio exceeds a certain size.
The most important criteria for choosing an asset manager
The deciding factor is how much money you have in your account at the end of the investment term. Many investors primarily focus on the past performance of investment solutions. But past performance has very little bearing on future developments. Low costs, on the other hand, are a much more important criterion when choosing an investment app, because costs will always detract from future performance.
Other relevant criteria for choosing an investment app include the investment products used, and the user-friendliness of the digital interface. If sustainability is important to you, then whether or not an asset manager pursues a sustainable investment philosophy is another factor to consider.
“It can be beneficial to try out several apps before you commit,” says Manz. In contrast to conventional asset managers, the minimum deposit required to open a portfolio with investment apps ranges between 500 and several thousand francs. Some also offer free demo accounts.
More on this topic:
Swiss digital asset management service comparison
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