A higher concentration of private banks and wealth managers in Switzerland drives demand for passive fund management and pushes up salaries in the sector, new research shows.

According to a report by Selby Jennings, the financial services recruiter, Geneva and Zurich boast higher salaries than the other European financial centres - London, Frankfurt and Paris - across all levels and asset classes.

The average pay for a fixed income fund manager with less than five years' experience in Geneva and Zurich is €83,000 ($85,500), compared with €60,000 in London, €55,000 in Frankfurt and €45,000 in Paris. A fund manger with the same remit but with more than 10 years' experience is on average paid €174,000 in Zurich, €166,000 in Geneva, €132,000 in London, €110,000 in Frankfurt and €100,000 in Paris. The differences are almost identical in equities and cross-asset.

The research was founded on the base salaries of 1,000 professionals from the firm's database.

Selby said the nature of the industry in the Swiss financial hubs, with more focus on private wealth management and therefore more investment activity, partly explained the differences. The high cost of living in the Alpine state also means that companies have to pay more to attract talent.

The firm also said there has been an increase in overall interest and recruitment in the passive fund management space and that wages for senior managers are on the rise as experience is highly valued whether the asset class is performing well, as fixed income is currently doing, or underperforming as with equities.