Swiss Life is acquiring Zwei Wealth, a renowned Swiss asset management consultancy. The Swiss insurer, which already has a strong asset management division through Swiss Life Asset Managers, announced the acquisition on Wednesday.

With this move, Swiss Life is expanding its investment business by introducing «a modern wealth office platform for wealthy private customers and institutional clients and generating additional fee income,» as stated in the press release.

Swiss Life Has Big Plans in the Investment Business

Zwei Wealth, on the other hand, gains a financially strong partner for its cost-intensive expansion. A branch office was recently opened in Geneva, and an additional 15 advisors are expected to be hired this year.

Swiss Life Switzerland intends to expand its investment business for private individuals into a further core business by 2027 to complement its existing pension offering. The acquisition of Zwei Wealth represents an important step in the expansion of its own offering in the domestic market.

New Customer Segment Tapped

With the acquisition of Zwei Wealth, Swiss Life Switzerland is now also serving customers from the HNWI segment who are looking for a modern wealth office solution for their asset management.

Roman Stein, CEO of Swiss Life Switzerland says, «This closes a gap in the investment business for private individuals, which we already offer for the retail and affluent segments through our advisory channels of the sales force, Swiss Life Select and Swiss Life Wealth Managers. The advisory approach that ZWEI Wealth pursues with its open platform is an excellent fit for us: we have proven for many years that we are also successful in other segments and product categories»

Zwei Wealth currently manages assets under Control (AuC) of around 3,5 billion Swiss francs. The acquisition will generate additional fee income for Swiss Life Switzerland.

Founded in 2014

Zwei Wealth was founded in 2014 by Klaus Wellershoff and Patrick Müller as a Swiss advisory firm for wealth management. With its open platform, Zwei Wealth offers clients asset management services from over 500 affiliated banks, asset and wealth managers.

Zwei Wealth Retains its own Presence

With the takeover, both the Zwei Wealth offering and brand will continue to exist, as Swiss Life writes in its press release. There will also be no changes to customer service.

Co-founder Klaus Wellershoff will remain on the Board of Directors of Zwei Wealth. Patrick Müller, Managing Director and also co-founder, will continue to manage the company in the future. He will report directly to the CEO Switzerland, Roman Stein, and will sit on the relevant sales committees of Swiss Life Switzerland. Stein will also become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zwei Wealth.

The takeover is effective immediately; the parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.