The importance of asset management to the country has been flagged by a new, inaugural study of the sector by the Swiss Finance Institute, with results due out in November.

The Swiss Finance Institute, the foundation created by Swiss banks and academic institutions, is launching its inaugural survey of the country’s asset management sector, highlighting how this area is seen as increasingly important to the Alpine state as traditional banking faces calls to adapt.

The study differentiates its analysis across the various interest groups and asks questions regarding the current as well as the mid-term stage of development of each specific company and of the Swiss asset management industry in general. It compares this to competition outside Switzerland, the SFI said in a statement.

Results of the report will be published in November this year by the SFI and zeb, a management consultancy for the financial services sector.

The launch of such a survey shows how asset management is seen by Swiss businesses as increasingly important at a time when the country’s banking sector is under pressure to adapt amid assaults on Swiss bank secrecy laws. With financial services accounting for about 12 per cent of Swiss gross domestic product, asset management has a significant role to play, it is argued, in filling any gaps. The Swiss Association of Asset Managers' membership holds around SFr375 billion ($393.4 billion) of AuM (Source: Swiss Bankers' Association).

An examination of asset management is nothing new for the SFI: since it was created in 2006 it has studied topics such as asset pricing and behavioural issues in investments. The survey is based on the content of a white paper published by the SFI and the Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association in November 2012.

The study will focus on regulation and supervisory authorities; professional standards; market access; infrastructure; competence and education; investment solutions and instruments; financial benefits for asset management firms and investors, and branding.

This publication joined top-level figures in Switzerland's private banking industry last August for an SFI retreat on wealth management issues. To see the report, click here.  To view more about the SFI, see here.