Swiss banks continue to dominate the wealth management industry, but Americans are increasingly encroaching on their territory – and winning.

J.P. Morgan manages $80 billion in wealth management assets in Switzerland – outpacing or meeting a series of local institutes. Now, the U.S. giant wants to make inroads into the German market, which is Swiss banks' traditional hunting grounds.

Most wealthy Germans bank locally, or maintain ties to Swiss wealth managers (or both), J.P. Morgan's German wealth boss Hakan Straengh told «Bloomberg» on Monday. He wants to change that: Germans are increasingly willing to let a third bank into the picture – often a U.K. or U.S. firm.

Cash Windfalls

The desire to spread money around is often driven by events like a big windfall when clients sell their companies, for example. Straegh is aiming for super-rich families with at least 100 million euros ($111 million): the very same segment that UBS and Credit Suisse are pursuing.

The U.S. bank's 21-adviser force in Germany is still relatively modest, but Straengh has the mandate to recruit. Rivals like France's BNP Paribas or London-based HSBC are also pouring resources into the market. 

This means far more competition for Swiss firms, which have long been the go-to option for wealthy Germans. The country is home to the third-largest number of billionaires, according to a recent study by Wealth-X, after the U.S. and China. Nearly one-fifth of their assets stem from the drug-making industry, according to the data firm.