The "Röschtigraben" in investing can only be explained in part, according to a recent blog post by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The survey found that 58 percent of the population in German-speaking Switzerland own securities, while in French-speaking Switzerland the figure is only 37 percent. The 21-percentage-point gap between the two language regions is striking. However, the HSLU study does not break down how the money is actually invested by region.

Large differences

The True Wealth study "ETF Geldanlage Schweiz" helps shed light on this. The key finding: German-speaking Swiss investors not only invest in securities more often, but also rely more heavily on equity ETFs.

According to the survey, 55 percent of people in German-speaking Switzerland hold equities in their portfolio, compared with 39 percent in Romandy. The differences are also large for ETFs: 33 percent of German-speaking Swiss own index funds, compared with only 20 percent in French-speaking Switzerland.

Accordingly, they also allocate significantly less money to these products. In French-speaking Switzerland, almost three-quarters of respondents say they invest less than 25 percent of their investable assets in ETFs, compared with 57 percent in German-speaking Switzerland. Here, too, one in ten has invested between 50 and 75 percent of their assets in ETFs, while in French-speaking Switzerland the figure is only 3 percent.

Particularly interesting are the differences in the question of active versus passive ETFs. Almost half of German-speaking Swiss therefore rely on passive products, which is almost twice as many as in Romandy. Conversely, French-speaking Swiss are much more likely to invest in actively managed ETFs, at 23 percent compared with "only" 12 percent in German-speaking Switzerland. Particularly interesting: In French-speaking Switzerland, "don't know" is the most common answer at just over 31 percent, almost twice as many as in German-speaking Switzerland.

Active or passive ETFs

Source: True Wealth

The whole world or niche areas

The particularly large difference is found in the specific ETF types. According to the True Wealth survey, 53 percent of ETF investors in German-speaking Switzerland use an MSCI World ETF, compared with only 15 percent in French-speaking Switzerland.

Conversely, in Romandy other categories are much more strongly represented, such as commodity, real estate and bond ETFs, as well as crypto investments and even leveraged ETFs.

Source: True Wealth

Different levels of knowledge

In a separate study, True Wealth has been asking the Swiss population about their financial knowledge for three years. Here, too, the well-known Röschtigraben is evident. Only 21.2 percent of respondents in French-speaking Switzerland could correctly answer the question about the main advantage of ETFs over actively managed funds, compared with 36.6 percent in German-speaking Switzerland. Exactly half of Romands answered "don't know"; among German-speaking Swiss, the figure is also high at 36 percent, saying they could not name - or did not want to name - any advantage.