Switzerland has an envied reputation as the leading choice for aristocrats, industrial titans and increasingly, multinational elites seeking to manage their assets discreetly. Its long tradition of private banking, paired with historic political stability and favourable tax laws, has made it a default destination for the world’s wealthiest. In 2026, with the UK’s non-dom reforms reshaping where mobile clients choose to book their wealth, that draw has only strengthened. Several wealthy UK executives have taken up tax residency in the area in the past year alone.
A 2025 UBS ranking of countries by average wealth per adult placed Switzerland first – a position its private banking infrastructure is well designed to support. A November 2025 referendum on a proposed 50 per cent federal inheritance tax on wealth exceeding CHF 50 million, backed by the Young Socialists, was rejected by 78.3 per cent of voters, reaffirming the country’s commitment to remaining one of the world’s most attractive destinations for wealthy individuals.
[See also: The Wealth Management Indices 2026]
Explore the other rankings within the 2026 Spear’s Wealth Management Indices:
Related
- Best UHNW Wealth Managers
- Best HNW Wealth Managers
- Best Wealth Planners
- Best Wealth Managers: Jersey
- Best Wealth Managers: Guernsey
- Best Wealth Managers: Middle East
- Best Family Office Advisory & Consultancy
- Best Family Office Banking & Investment Services
- Best Generational Wealth and Family Business Advisers
Trends in 2026
A shift in allocation
A notable trend across the Switzerland-based advisers in this Index is accelerating client interest in private markets.
Maurice Ephrati of Bedrock Group, which manages $10 billion, identifies a marked shift toward co-investment opportunities across equities, private debt and real estate – with last year’s exceptional performance aided significantly by gold exposure. Ephrati is clear that no single approach works across a client base this varied: ‘Every client and family is totally different, and you have to adapt, in all respects, to their needs and concerns. You cannot put them in a box, which makes my job fascinating and obviously very complex.’
[See also: Record gold and silver prices signal a new era for wealthy investors]
For Omair Sattar of Vontobel, who manages around $400 million, the value of his platform lies partly in what it does not do: ‘There are great banks out there that are doing great things, and everyone knows them. And then there are some banks that have been quietly doing the same things just as well – and that’s Vontobel in a nutshell. It’s family-owned, it’s 100 years old, it’s very discreet.’ Two-thirds of his clients have followed him across two firm moves, from Barclays to Julius Baer and then to Vontobel.
Content from our partners
The relationship over the long-term
The advisers who perform consistently in Switzerland tend to build their books through depth rather than breadth. Edward Turner of Dreyfus Sons & Co Banquiers manages around CHF 500 million, with 80 per cent of new business coming through referrals.
[See also: Switzerland preares for high-stakes referendum]
His background in M&A strategy shapes how he approaches planning: ‘The combination of understanding, adaptability and providing independent advice – not selling products –is ultimately what results in generating value for clients.’ Yulia Nissler of EFG International maintains around under 20 relationships deliberately, finding it sufficient to deliver genuine service quality. Her instinct when markets are volatile is always to reach out first: ‘My main concern is when clients are silent and do not communicate.’
Fella Khelifi-Arnulphy of EFG International, head of advisory solutions for Monaco and the Middle East, takes a similarly proactive approach – reaching out to clients before they become anxious and staying close through difficult periods. Her cosmopolitan background – fluent in Arabic, French and English – positions her well for a client base spanning the Gulf, Europe and beyond.
Building for the next generation
The generational dimension of wealth management is increasingly central to the work of Switzerland-based advisers. Lluis Jauma Costa of UBS, who covers Spanish, Portuguese and Andorran markets, describes a client base of business owners aged 50 and above with a growing focus on involving their children.
Younger clients show considerably more interest in digital assets, while older clients prioritise preservation – a tension that requires careful navigation and ongoing education.
Nissler frames the longer arc of the relationship: ‘I have a few families where I am very close with the children as well. My job is to make sure that their wealth is managed and maintained through each generation.’
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- Best wealth managers in Switzerland: some names to know
- Best wealth managers in Switzerland: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
Best wealth managers in Switzerland: names to know
Maurice Ephrati
- Focus: Geneva and Monaco
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Bedrock Group
Maurice Ephrati co-founded Bedrock Group alongside two other investment specialists in 2004.
Managing the wealth of UHNWs requires a bespoke approach, Ephrati notes, adding that one prescriptive investment does not work for all.
‘Every client and family is totally different, and you have to adapt, in all respects, to their needs and concerns,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘You cannot put them in a box, which makes my job fascinating and obviously very complex.’
Bedrock has offices in London, Geneva and Monaco, with its teams of investment professionals sourcing both public and private market opportunities. It can also act as a full-service adviser, helping families with governance, philanthropy and the transfer of wealth to the next generation.
Read Maurice Ephrati’s full profile on Spears500.com
Annelise Peers
- Focus: Complex international clients
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Investec Bank
‘As an Anglo-Saxon bank with its roots in Sub-Saharan Africa, we are cognisant of the complexity of international clients with multiple touchpoints in different countries and jurisdictions,’ Investec Bank Switzerland’s client-facing CIO Annelise Peers tells Spear’s.
The firm’s business draws on its Swiss banking heritage and leverages Investec’s global resources and investment process to deliver ‘truly innovative international banking services’ and wealth management solutions.
Read Annelise Peers’s full profile on Spears500.com
Matthew Barrett
- Focus: UK and international clients
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Bellecapital
‘We are less focused on assets than big banks are,’ says Matthew Barrett of Bellecapital. ‘We focus on service and performance which drives our revenue, not mere assets sitting on a balance sheet.’
The executive director joined the firm in 2022 and now advises a client base of finance professionals and newly successful entrepreneurs. While Barrett cut his teeth at Merrill Lynch and Barclays in the UK, he is now based in Zurich catering to HNWs moving to Switzerland amid changing tax rules in the UK.
Read Matthew Barrett’s full profile on Spears500.com
Yulia Nissler
- Focus: Successful European clients
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: EFG International
Yulia Nissler, a managing director in EFG International’s Zurich office, tells Spear’s that her enviable client book is the result of a ‘mindset focused on long-term relationships with clients’.
She advises UHNWs on a broad range of investment strategies, wealth planning and global structuring matters. Increasingly, her work involves preparing families to transfer wealth to the next generation and preserving family legacies.
‘I have a few families where I am very close with the children as well,’ she says. ‘My job is to make sure that their wealth is managed and maintained through each generation.’
Read Yulia Nissler’s full profile on Spears500.com
Omair Sattar
- Focus: Swiss banking with a global outlook
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Vontobel
Omair Sattar is a managing director and senior adviser at Vontobel. ‘There are great banks out there that are doing great things, and everyone knows them,’ Sattar tells Spear’s. ‘And then there are some banks that have been quietly doing the same things just as well … And that’s Vontobel in a nutshell. It’s family-owned. It’s 100 years old. It’s very discreet.’
While Sattar’s book of HNW families may appreciate the closeness and discretion offered by Vontobel, the vast majority have actually followed him twice, from Barclays to Julius Baer and to Vontobel.
Read Omair Sattar’s full profile on Spears500.com
Fella Khelifi-Arnulphy
- Focus: UHNWs and family offices
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: EFG International
The forward-thinking Fella Khelifi-Arnulphy is an impressive operator. Her career has spanned over two decades and includes portfolio management and advisory roles in the UK and Switzerland, with stints at UBP, Citi Private Bank and, now, EFG International, where she is head of advisory solutions for Monaco and the Middle East.
With a cosmopolitan background – she speaks Arabic, French and English – the Geneva-based adviser is well placed to advise UHNWs, family offices and institutional clients with interests spanning the globe.
Read Fella Khelifi-Arnulphy’s full profile on Spears500.com
Best wealth managers in Switzerland: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
- To apply for inclusion in The Spear’s 500, complete our submission form.
- For further information about rankings and entries, please email research@spearswms.com; we aim to respond to all queries within two working days.
- For commercial enquiries and questions relating to enhanced profiles, please contact: sales@spearswms.com
- To keep up to date with the Spear’s 500, subscribe to our magazine, newsletter and follow Spear’s on Linkedin and Instagram.
- If you have missed calendar deadlines for our research cycles in 2026, you can still register your interest for updates about upcoming research and rankings.
- Click here to order a print copy of The Spear’s 500.
With additional reporting by Caitlin Kilpatrick.
