Swiss family office or independent asset manager: what the law says and what our data show

"Family office" is not a licensing category in Swiss law. There is no family office licence and no register that carries that name: the authorisation a firm needs depends on what it does, and for whom. A firm that manages assets for third parties is, in principle, an asset manager within the meaning of the Federal Act on Financial Institutions (FinIA); a firm that acts as a trustee falls under the trustee licence. An independent asset manager (IAM; in French, a gérant de fortune indépendant, or GFI) is precisely that licensed asset manager.

The comparison is therefore less about two legal statuses than about two ways of organising a business, with service scopes that sometimes differ. This page compares types of provider, never individual firms, and it does not say which type suits which client. It draws on official texts and on our Geneva data. For the comparison with banks, see private bank or independent asset manager; for a wider view, the guide to choosing a wealth manager.

Independent asset manager and family office at a glance

The percentages come from our Geneva dataset, as of 17 October 2026: see the Geneva data page. The table describes types; each firm sets its own services and terms.

Does a family office need a licence in Switzerland?

It depends on its activity, not on its name. Three cases arise.

The firm manages assets for third parties. It then carries on the activity of an asset manager, which requires a FINMA licence: FinIA (SR 954.1) makes asset managers and trustees, among others, subject to a licence (Art. 2 and 5 FinIA). Ongoing supervision is carried out by a supervisory organisation authorised by FINMA, as for an IAM.

The firm acts as a trustee. Trustee activity has its own licensing regime in the same Act. A family office that administers trusts does not escape that requirement because of its name. Trustees in Geneva are tracked separately in the directory.

The firm manages only the wealth of a related circle. Art. 2 para. 2 let. a FinIA excludes from the scope of the Act persons who manage assets exclusively for people with whom they have economic or family ties. This is the exception often called a "single family office". The Financial Institutions Ordinance (FinIO, SR 954.11) spells out these ties: Art. 3 FinIO covers companies or entities of the same group that provide financial or trustee services to other companies or entities of the group; Art. 4 FinIO lists the family ties (relatives and in-laws in the direct line, collateral relatives up to the fourth degree, spouses and registered partners, and so on) and also deals with the case where the firm is controlled by a related third party or by a trust or foundation set up by such a person. The consolidated text in force is authoritative; this page is only a summary.

Consequence for the directory: a firm that manages only the wealth of a single family and its circle needs no licence and so appears on no FINMA list. Our basic rule is to list only providers that can be checked in a public register; exempt structures cannot be, and are not listed.

What is a multi family office in the directory?

A multi family office serves several families who have no tie to one another within the meaning of Art. 4 FinIO. The exception described above then does not apply: the firm manages assets for third parties. In our directory, only multi family offices that hold a FINMA licence, verifiable in the list of authorised institutions, are listed. The "family office" category in the directory is a presentation category, not a legal one: it groups licensed firms (most often as asset managers) that present themselves as family offices. The page on family offices in Geneva lists them, and the page on independent asset managers in Geneva lists the IAMs.

How do the services differ?

The law defines the activity of an asset manager, not that of a "family office". Differences in scope are therefore found in the contract, not in the law.

• A standard management mandate covers managing the client's investments within an agreed strategy: the manager places orders under a power of attorney, and the custodian bank executes them and issues the statements. This is the core of an IAM's business.
• A broader mandate, as some family offices describe it, may add a coordination function: consolidated monitoring of assets held with several banks, an interface with other professionals, administrative follow-up. These services are not defined by law; they exist only if the contract provides for them.

A service that is not asset management within the meaning of the law is not covered by the licence for that reason. What matters to the client is what the written agreement promises, from whom, and at what price. Where a firm has made it public, the directory profiles give the nature of its services.

Who holds the assets?

In both cases, neither the IAM nor the licensed family office holds the assets. Accounts and securities accounts are opened in the client's name with a custodian bank, or several. Client protection if the bank fails then follows the rules of the Banking Act, set out in the comparison private bank or independent asset manager. For a family office that coordinates several banks, this means several separate custody relationships, each with its own statements.

Which rules of conduct apply?

As soon as a firm provides a financial service to clients, the Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA, SR 950.1) applies: client segmentation, a check that the service is appropriate or suitable, information on the provider, its services, its costs and its conflicts of interest, documentation, and affiliation with an ombudsman for providers that serve retail clients. These duties do not depend on the label "family office" or "IAM". They are explained in detail in the guide FinIA and FinSA explained.

Retrocessions: the same rule for both

Art. 26 FinSA ("Third-party payments") applies to every financial service provider. It may accept such payments only if it has informed the client in advance and the client has waived them, or if it passes them on to the client in full. A family office independent of any banking group can therefore, like an IAM, receive third-party payments: the question to ask is the same. For fee models in detail, see the guide on wealth management fees in Switzerland.

What do our Geneva data show?

Our data cover institutions with their registered office in Geneva, based on the FINMA list cross-checked with Zefix, the Swiss commercial register index (as of 17 October 2026, Geneva data).

Medians are only published from 5 values; for IAMs the number of values is 4 for the minimum investment and 1 for fees; for family offices it is 0. The gap between 77.1 % and 92.2 % says nothing about the quality of the firms: those not attached to a supervisory organisation are licensed directly by FINMA under another status. We draw no other conclusion from these figures.

How are the fees structured?

We publish no rates. For both types, the structure can be described:

• the fees of the manager or the firm, according to the mandate;
• the charges of the custodian bank(s) (custody, brokerage, currency exchange), invoiced by the bank;
• product costs, if funds or structured products are used;
• possibly separate fees for services outside asset management, if the contract provides for them.

The useful question is what is included in the advertised price and what is charged on top. The fee calculator lets you enter assumptions of your own; it does not rely on any rate published by the institutions.

Frequently asked questions

Is a family office always supervised by FINMA?

No. A firm that manages exclusively the wealth of people with whom it has economic or family ties is excluded from the scope of FinIA (Art. 2 para. 2 let. a FinIA, Art. 3 and 4 FinIO). One that manages third-party assets without such ties needs a licence.

Can a family office hold my assets?

Not in the model described here: the assets are held by a custodian bank. The institutions in our data are asset managers or trustees, not banks.

Where can I check whether a firm is licensed?

In the FINMA list. It shows the type of licence and, for asset managers and trustees, the supervisory organisation.

Which supervisory organisation applies to a family office?

The authorised organisations in the FINMA list are AOOS, OSIF, SO-FIT and OSFINcontrol. Of the 549 Geneva institutions we track, 149 come under AOOS, 161 under SO-FIT, 100 under OSIF and 10 under OSFINcontrol; 126 are supervised directly by FINMA (as of 17 October 2026, Geneva data).

What to check before signing

1. The licence. Look the firm up in the FINMA list. A company name that does not appear on the list is not licensed under that name; if the firm relies on the exception for managing a related circle, ask which ties it rests on.
2. The supervisory organisation shown in the FINMA list.
3. The custodian bank. Its name, whether the account is opened in the client's name, and the exact scope of the power of attorney.
4. The exact scope of the contract. What counts as asset management, what counts as other services, and who provides them.
5. The fees, in writing. Fees, the custodian bank's charges, product costs, services charged on top.
6. Retrocessions. If the firm receives third-party payments, how it informs the client before signing and what it passes on (Art. 26 FinSA).
7. The ombudsman with which the provider is affiliated.
8. The minimum investment and the exit terms, in writing: notice period, closing fees, transfer of securities.

Our method for collecting and verifying data is described on the methodology page.