The AssetAwards were launched last year as a joint initiative by finews and AssetRush (a spin-off of Swiss fintech GenTwo). Now, the awards are entering their second edition. As in the inaugural year, the focus is on outstanding examples of how novel ideas are transformed into investable financial products.

«Switzerland is a vibrant hub for innovation in financial products — something that is also reflected in its international market leadership in structured products,» says Florian Schwab, Publishing Director at finews. «We see product innovation as an important growth driver for the Swiss financial sector and are very much looking forward to the AssetAwards.»

Three Categories

The shortlist for the AssetAwards 2026 is compiled based on finews’ editorial coverage between May 2025 and March 2026. To this end, the innovations are grouped according to their underlying asset universe into three categories: traditional assets, alternatives, and digital assets.

AssetAwards 2025 winner: Fatmire Bekiri of Sygnum Bank. (Image: David Hubacher / GenTwo)

In each category, the editorial team identifies five product innovations based on a transparent criterion: the articles describing these innovations that generated the highest reader engagement (clicks) on finews.

Editorial Selection and Public Voting

This approach combines editorial judgment with market relevance by highlighting those innovations that attracted the greatest attention.

«We are very much looking forward to making visible the wave of innovation that is shaping the future of finance,» says Damian Horner, Partner at AssetRush.

Voting and Award Ceremony

Public voting will take place from April 7 to April 20 on finews.

The winners will be announced at AssetRush Zurich on Thursday, May 21, where innovators, asset managers and infrastructure providers will come together to discuss the next stages of investable innovation.

Winners 2025

At the inaugural AssetAwards 2025, three individuals stood out in their respective categories following a public vote with well over 1,000 participants (as reported by finews).

In the Alternatives category, Fatmire Bekiri, Head of Tokenization at Sygnum Bank, was honored for the tokenization of a Picasso artwork, enabling regulated, fractionalized access to high-value art assets. In the Digital Assets category, Alexander Thoma, Head of Digital Assets at PostFinance, received recognition for introducing Ethereum staking on the bank’s platform. And in the Traditional Assets category, André Müller, Head of UBS Asset Management Switzerland, was awarded for launching the UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token — a tokenized fund vehicle bridging classic asset management with distributed-ledger technology.

The AssetRush 2026, including the AssetAwards ceremony, will take place on May 21, 2026, at Kaufleuten in Zurich. Secure your tickets by January 31 at the pre-early-bird rate of CHF 195.