The organisation’s annual measure of sector performance gave a generally ebullient mood. Swiss banking continues to wrestle with regulatory changes, while lawmakers consider plans to tighten capital requirements on UBS.

Aggregate net income at banks in Switzerland rose 5.8 per cent year-on-year to a record SFr73.8 billion ($91.5 billion) in 2025, according to the Swiss Bankers Association's (SBA) annual Banking Barometer.
 
Assets under management climbed 4.8 per cent to SFr9,729 billion, also a record, and broke through the SFr10 trillion mark for the first time in the first half of 2026, reaching SFr10.12 trillion, the report said.

Although Switzerland’s status as the world’s largest cross-border financial hub has been challenged, and data shows that Hong Kong has overtaken it, the Alpine state remains one of the most important banking and wealth sectors in the world. Federal lawmakers in Berne are also looking at ways of tightening capital requirements on the country’s largest bank, UBS. This is a topic that has caused friction between the Zurich-listed lawmaker and the government.

The SBA said commission business and services drove the improvement in results for the industry, rising 6.5 per cent, while other ordinary income gained by 26.6 per cent. Interest income fell 0.8 per cent despite higher lending volumes, as margin pressure persisted under zero interest rates.

The SBA’s barometer, which draws on data from the Swiss National Bank alongside surveys of SBA member organisations, is published alongside the SBA's semi-annual Swiss Banking Outlook, a survey of chief investment officers and chief economists at member banks.

The results echo a broadly positive year across the wider Swiss and Liechtenstein private banking industry. LGT, the Liechtenstein-headquartered private banking and asset management group, reported assets under management up 5 per cent to SFr386.1 billion in 2025, with group profit rising 25 per cent to SFr445.6 million. Liechtensteinische Landesbank posted client assets under management up 12.2 per cent to SFr108.9 billion, though net profit was roughly flat at SFr166.5 million.

The story on employment trends is more mixed. Banks in Switzerland employed 92,002 full-time equivalents at the end of 2025, a fall of 2.5 per cent, with the decline concentrated at the large bank; other categories added headcount. 

Headcount fell further in the first half of 2026, mainly outside Switzerland, though just under 60 per cent of experts surveyed expect staffing to hold steady for the rest of the year and around a third expect an increase.

The Swiss Banking Outlook 2026 survey found that over half of respondents expect net income to rise further in 2026, with the remainder anticipating stability and none forecasting a decline. 

To see an interview by WealthBriefing of the SBA earlier in the year, click here.