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The independents so far have defied the odds. The 2,500 independent firms in Switzerland are managing some 400 billion Swiss francs ($407 billion) in assets, a study by Credit Suisse showed last year. And the trend is still showing an increase according to the authors.

The Swiss Association of Asset Managers is seeing a stabile development of the industry. The group counted about the same number of new members and closures: «The big consolidation predicted by some experts time and again never took place,» said Ralph Frey, the head of the group in Zurich.

Looking for Alternatives at 40

A trend that is manifestly ongoing is a toughening of conditions for older bankers: fewer than one in six bankers are retiring at the statutory age of 65 at the big two Swiss banks, according to estimates. Career coaches have started telling bank managers to look for an alternative career starting at the age of 40.

Joining an independent wealth manager may constitute an alternative career path.

Three types of staff seeking a change

There are three types of bankers looking for a change of career, according to Marcel Chevrolet, once a relationship manager and now owner of Chevrolet Consulting.

One group is going independent starting in a position of strength. They tend to come in groups of two or three, with a similar type of client and who’ve known each other for years. They all say the same thing, says Chevrolet: «You want to serve your client and stop being a mere salesman of products.»

Sick and Tired of Administration

The second group are made up by managers who prefer to be more entrepreneurial in their day-to-day business. A former banker said that he only just heard from a friend that in order to introduce a new product, he had to get the signing-off from 15 different divisions within the bank. People at the front usually dislike this arduous way of proceeding and prefer doing things, implementing ideas.

The third group are those released by their employers. These are mainly bankers with 50 or more years of age who can’t find a job anymore, said Chevrolet. Joining an independent wealth manager is their way of last resort.

Difficult Switch

Which begs the question of how much longer this will work. Firms such as Zwei Wealth Experts may have announced hiring plans recently, but the industry as such is limited in its scope. For the independent firms it matters most that the new hires take assets along from their previous employer, but many senior bankers don’t actually work with clients anymore.

Also, many of the experienced managers at major banks don’t actually know how to run a small finance firm. «Our relationship managers enjoy more freedom than at the banks,» said Reuss boss Brem. But you need to know how to use the freedom to the advantage of the firm, a change of perspective that not all the experienced hands manage to achieve.