Private banking is renowned for its personalised services, but the staggering fees often associated with it raise questions. Are these high fees genuinely justified?
💡 The key to addressing this lies in transparency and fairness. Clients should never feel blindsided by opaque fee structures. It’s time to foster partnerships grounded in trust, openness, and mutual success.
🤝 A fair fee structure should benefit all parties involved. Private banking should empower clients to achieve their financial goals, not serve as a barrier.
The focus should be on creating value and delivering exceptional service without hidden costs. When clients clearly understand what they are paying for and why, they build trust. This fosters long-term relationships, making them feel secure and confident in their financial decisions.
What a transparent fee proposal contains
Transparency starts with a written proposal that shows every cost component, in percent and in Swiss francs:
| Component | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Mandate or advisory fee | Percentage of assets, minimum fee, VAT |
| Custody fee | Rate, minimums, extra charges for certain assets |
| Transaction costs | Ticket fees or percentage, FX margins |
| Product costs | Fund TERs, structured product margins |
| Third-party payments | Retrocessions and whether they are passed on |
A client who sees the total in CHF can compare offers. A client who sees only a headline percentage cannot.
What Swiss law requires
Under the Financial Services Act, financial service providers must inform clients about costs and conflicts of interest. Retrocessions must be disclosed, and Swiss case law has long held that they belong to the client unless the client has knowingly waived them. Transparency is therefore not only good practice, it is a legal duty.
Fairness: aligning interests
Fair pricing means the adviser earns more when the client is well served, not when the client trades more or buys in-house products. Flat fees on assets, clean share classes and passing on retrocessions are practical ways to align interests.
Check your own costs
Use our fee simulation between private bank and independent wealth manager and read Swiss Private Banking Fees: What Clients Actually Pay.
Source: LinkedIn
If transparency ranks high on your list, our guide to finding the right independent wealth manager in Switzerland shows what to look for.
Source: https://vapa.ch/transparency-and-fairness-in-private-banking-a-new-era-of-trust/ · vapa.ch
