Swiss intermediaries increase LinkedIn use while Facebook and Xing fall out of favour

Reading/watching industry news is the main reason for intermediaries’ professional use of social media, research by Fundamental Media found

Key points:

• LinkedIn is the most popular social media channel among Swiss financial intermediaries, followed by WhatsApp and YouTube.
• Reading and watching industry news is the main reason for using social media professionally, followed by reading and watching content from asset managers and networking with peers.
• When it comes to fund selection, Swiss intermediaries consider cost, transparency and investment philosophy the most important selection factors.

The professional use of LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) has increased among Swiss financial intermediaries, while the use of Facebook and Xing has declined sharply, research by Fundamental Media found.

Used by 93% of intermediaries, LinkedIn is the most popular social media channel among this audience, followed by WhatsApp and YouTube. Meanwhile, the use of Facebook and Xing for business purposes has dropped by more than 50% since 2018. Most social media are widely used on mobile, indicating that asset managers should create mobile-friendly content. LinkedIn and YouTube are also still being accessed on desktop, suggesting that intermediaries might use them during working hours as well.

From June to September 2023, we surveyed 56 financial intermediaries in Switzerland, consisting of 26 financial advisers and 30 discretionary portfolio managers/fund selectors, about their investment views, satisfaction with asset managers and media consumption. The Switzerland engagement report is part of our European financial intermediaries research, which also includes reports on the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

Reading and watching industry news is the main reason why intermediaries in Switzerland use social media professionally, followed by reading and watching content from asset managers and networking with peers. However, the main reasons for use differ for each social medium.

When it comes to the selection of funds, Swiss intermediaries consider cost, transparency and investment philosophy the most important selection factors. For discretionary portfolio managers and fund selectors (DPM-FS), fund manager tenure, and service are more important, while financial advisers focus more on ESG approach and brand strength.

The overall level of satisfaction with asset managers is high among Swiss intermediaries, with over a third stating they are very satisfied with the managers they work with. Meetings, client-facing support and offline events are the areas where satisfaction is the highest.

Other findings from the 2023 Switzerland engagement survey include:

• Swiss intermediaries are most likely to increase their clients’ investments in Swiss equities, fixed income and emerging market equities along with ESG and ETF usage. Real estate is likely to see the largest decrease, followed by multi-asset, private equity and North American equities. 
• Financial intermediaries use several sources to meet their professional development requirements (CPD), with self-learning being the most common among both audiences. Advisers receive more employer/in-house training,​ while DPM-FS rely slightly more on their membership of professional bodies to achieve their CPD requirements.CPD training by asset managers is mainly used by intermediaries working for smaller firms.
• Most Swiss intermediaries attend industry events, and both online and offline/physical events are liked by the audience with no clear preference for either.Online events are considered convenient especially for saving time on travel, while physical events were praised for their networking opportunities, having fewer distractions, the opportunity to interact with fund managers in person and to gain CPD points.

For access to the full reports, contact [email protected]