A new association for the Swiss financial market: The Asset Management Association Switzerland will combine the old industry groups and has appointed a well-known ambassador for its members as the first president.
Iwan Deplazes was elected president of the Asset Management Association Switzerland. The new group combines the Asset Management Platform Switzerland (AMP) and the Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association (Sfama), according to a statement on Friday.
Deplazes was both AMP chairman and president of Sfama. He is head of Swisscanto Invest and as such the head of asset management at Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB).
The combination of the two groups follows the development of the industry into an important pillar of Swiss financial services, in addition to banking and insurance, the association said. The total assets managed by Swiss asset managers amount to more than 2.5 trillion Swiss francs ($2.7 trillion).
Deplazes said the time was right to combine the industry’s forces, with a vision to establish Switzerland as a leading asset management hub.
With Support From Banking
The Swiss Bankers Association is supporting the combination of the two previous associations and will delegate a representative to the board of the Asset Management Association Switzerland.
The board, which today convened for the first time, includes Deplazes as chairman, Charlotte Baenninger (deputy to the president, UBS), Michel Degen (Credit Suisse), Laurent Ramsey (Pictet), Axel Schwarzer (Vontobel) and Mirjam Staub-Bisang (Blackrock).
