Citywire Swiss Wealth Retreat 2026

The AB CarVal Global Credit Opportunities Fund (GCO) is a semi-liquid private credit fund seeking to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns with low correlations to public equity and fixed income markets. The Fund focuses on three investable themes driving opportunity: asset-based finance, aviation leasing and energy transition. From residential mortgages and auto loans to commercial receivables, asset-based finance is secured by pools of tangible assets, differentiating it from traditional corporate direct lending. The Fund’s aviation leasing strategy focuses on purchasing and leasing commercial aircraft to carriers globally. It’s attractive due to the expansion of the global middle class fueling a rise in demand for air travel. Through its energy transition strategy, the Fund invests in commercial solar and batter storage through private financings. 

Workshop Objectives: Explore how AB CarVal’s Global Credit Opportunities Fund delivers diversified, asset-secured, income-oriented private credit opportunities. Understand how experience, sourcing network, and structuring expertise differentiate managers in their approach to these growing investment asset classes.

Company Profile: AllianceBernstein is a leading investment-management firm with $867 billion in client assets under management, as of 31 December 2025. 2025. With a unique combination of expertise across equities, fixed-income, alternatives and multi-asset strategies, we aim to deliver differentiated insights and distinctive solutions to advance investors’ success. Across our global network, we’re fully invested in delivering better outcomes for our worldwide clients, including institutional, high-net-worth and retail investors. By embracing innovation, we seek to address increasingly complex investing challenges and opportunities. And we pursue responsibility at all levels of the firm—from how we work and act to the solutions we design for clients.

The current environment for value stocks appears promising, but value alone is not enough. Josh Passmore will explain the team's value approach and demonstrate what a company needs besides a favourable valuation to be an attractive investment. Furthermore, Josh will explain how to create a portfolio that clearly stands out from its peers and is globally diversified.

Workshop Objectives: We will present our team's value approach and explain why we believe it is relevant today.

Company Profile: Artemis was created by a group of fund managers in 1997 and remains true to its founding principles: a commitment to managing distinctive, active investment strategies and providing exemplary client service.
We give our investment teams the freedom to implement their own approaches to active management without the constraints of a house view. 
We continue to believe this is the best way to deliver exceptional returns for our clients over the long term.

•    We examine similarities/differences in how indices define asset classes and manage reconstitution
•    Review the rise of strategic-beta ETF offerings and provide context for how allocators can navigate this ecosystem
•    Highlight some constraints that portfolio design decisions can place on index trackers
•    Propose how a systematic approach can deliver benefits commonly associated with indexing without the artificial constraints

Workshop Objectives: Reimagine equity investing with Avantis Investors. Explore how a transparent, repeatable, valuation driven approach that blends index-like diversification with active insight can help build smarter portfolios at low cost.

Company Profile: Avantis Investors helps clients achieve their investment goals by delivering well-diversified solutions that integrate seamlessly into asset allocations, combining the potential for outperformance with the consistency of indexing. Drawing on commonsense investment principles and the latest academic research, Avantis designs strategies to improve investor outcomes. Avantis is backed by American Century Investments, a trusted asset manager with over 65 years of experience and more than $320 billion in assets under management.

Invest in tomorrow's leading growth companies with the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust: liquid, low-cost access to the world’s most transformational growth companies, public or private. 

Workshop Objectives: Understand the advantages of our investment trust structure and our unique approach to delivering liquid, low-cost access to public and private businesses through one best-ideas portfolio.

Company Profile: The purpose of the Scottish Mortgage is simple: maximise total returns over the long term. To do that, we aim to own the world’s most exceptional public and private growth companies, in one liquid and low-cost portfolio. We utilise an investment company structure to do this. And we limit fees so that shareholders keep more of any returns generated
 
Scottish Mortgage and its manager Baillie Gifford were founded in 1908 to work together, seeking the best growth. Scottish Mortgage is one of the largest, most liquid and best-known UK investment companies. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the UK’s blue chip stock index, the FTSE 100.

After years of US equity dominance, global portfolios are increasingly concentrated in a narrow group of large-cap stocks. This concentration creates valuation risk and heightens the potential for contagion should leadership reverse.

Europe offers a different entry point. Relative valuations remain compelling versus the US, with several sectors trading at discounts reminiscent of past stress periods. Dispersion across companies and sectors is elevated — creating opportunity, but only for selective investors.

Europe is not a beta story. Structural winners coexist with challenged businesses, making rigorous stock picking essential. Quality — resilient balance sheets, sustainable cash flows, pricing power — must be combined with strict valuation discipline.

In this environment, concentration and conviction matter. A high-conviction long-only approach captures mispriced quality, while a long/short strategy enhances diversification by monetizing dispersion and reducing market directionality.

This is not a time for passive exposure. It is a time for selectivity.

Workshop Objectives:

• Reassess today’s market concentration
• Understand the risks stemming from elevated US equity concentration and narrow leadership.
• Reposition Europe in the allocation debate
• Examine why European equities offer a more compelling valuation starting point, renewed relative appeal and great diversification.

• Highlight the return of valuation discipline
• With the end of the negative yield era, the compass of valuation is back at the center of stock picking. Capital once again has a price — and selectivity matters.
• Emphasize quality and fundamentals
• Define what sustainable quality means in this environment and why rigorous, bottom-up analysis is essential.
• Discuss implications for portfolio construction
• Explore how conviction, concentration, and selective use of long/short approaches can enhance diversification and risk control.

This workshop presents BIT Capital’s approach to investing in tech equities. Since 2019, our flagship fund, the BIT Global Technology Leaders, has delivered net returns of more than 30% p.a. through high-conviction stock picking based on deep fundamental analysis, enhanced by proprietary data-driven analytics.
The BIT investment process combines traditional and alternative datasets to identify disruptive companies early - often before they reach the broader market’s radar. While the “Magnificent 7” at times are part of the portfolio, the majority of outperformance stems from lesser-known innovators with strong KPIs and compelling market positions.
The workshop will also examine how BIT Capital managed to maintain high conviction in core portfolio companies in 2026, while optimizing downside -without sacrificing upside capture.

Workshop Objectives: Provide insights into BIT Capital’s fundamental, data-enhanced investment process and show how it allows us to maintain high-conviction through volatility while balancing downside protection with upside capture.

Company Profile: BIT Capital is an owner-managed, independent asset manager specialising in technology equity funds. With a boutique focus on the entire spectrum of the technology sector, the BIT Capital investment approach is grounded in a superior understanding of technological innovation by means of a serial tech-entrepreneur CIO and investment team of industry specialists and data engineers. BIT Capital is committed to identify tomorrow’s technology winners today and enable its investors to benefit from the mass market viability of established technologies as well as the high growth potential of emerging technologies such as AI and their adoption leaps.

Sustaining a strong long term track record in an environment where tariffs, defence expenditure and low growth pose questions. Europe offers great opportunities, and our approach seeks companies well positioned in their industries, in successful transformation, and in particularly attractive sectors.  This philosophy has generated strong returns over different market cycles and is even more important today. 

Workshop Objectives: Participants will gain insight into Europe’s compelling investment opportunities, as well as its potential pitfalls – highlighting the importance of active management in achieving strong relative returns through robust resources and a disciplined investment process.

Company Profile: At Columbia Threadneedle Investments, we invest to make a difference in your world, and the wider world. Millions of people rely on us to manage their money and invest for their future; together they entrust us with US$678bn*. We are globally connected with a team of over 550 investment professionals providing diverse expertise, spanning almost every asset class and market. We are intense about research as we believe that original independent research makes investment decisions smarter. We have a responsible ethos as investment decisions today help define the future, we all seek. Every day, we’re looking for opportunities to improve how we invest and what our clients experience; our focus on continuous improvement means that we never stand still. Whatever world you want, our purpose is to help you achieve it.
*Data as at 31 December 2025

With over a decade of track record and €3 billion AuM, OptoFlex and US EquityFlex are engineered to improve the performance of bond and equity portfolios. These liquid, UCITS-compliant funds focus on systematically capturing risk premiums to act as reliable yield enhancers in your strategic allocation.
In this session, our portfolio managers will show how these rule-based strategies generate consistent additional returns. A key advantage: thanks to an integrated tail hedge, the strategies provide extra stability precisely when markets face extreme stress.
Join us to discover how you can achieve reliable excess returns while maintaining a robust safety net for your portfolio’s most challenging moments.

Workshop Objectives: Learn how to:
•    Improve performance by systematically capturing risk premiums.
•    Remove guesswork with objective, forecast-free strategies.
•    Ensure flexibility through high liquidity and simple structures.
•    Protect capital during extreme crises with an integrated safety net.

Company Profile: FERI was founded in Bad Homburg in 1987 as Germany’s first multi-family office.
Since then, we have grown to become one of the leading multi-asset managers in the German-speaking world, with more than €60 billion of assets under management and over 280 employees at eight locations. We offer private and institutional investors something unique: first-class asset management based on our own in-depth research.
At the heart of our investment approach lies a deep commitment to alternative asset classes. Our Volatility Strategies Team is widely regarded as one of Germany’s premier units, having defined the standards for excellence and innovation within the sector.

 Workshop Objectives: This workshop will examine the role of digital asset custodians within the investment ecosystem, outlining their core functions and responsibilities. Participants will explore the key operational, governance, and risk management considerations involved in safeguarding digital assets, including custody models and asset protection mechanisms. The session is designed to provide a structured understanding of how custody supports the secure participation of investors in digital asset markets.

Company Profile: Fidelity Digital Assets® is a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments that provides an institutional-grade digital asset experience while incorporating the history, principles, and expertise of a traditional financial institution. Established in 2018, the business is uniquely built for institutional investors and offers secure custody, trading, and support solutions that scale with investors’ needs, allowing clients to navigate digital assets with confidence.

With deposit yields falling and geopolitical tension mounting, low-risk investors face a clear challenge: how to activate their cash without compromising on safety.
In this session, we explore how dynamic allocation within highest quality bond segments – covered and government bonds – can offer a compelling solution. These asset classes provide structural safety, liquidity and regulatory support, creating a resilient foundation for generating the low-risk returns client need. We demonstrate how our Nordea 1 – Active Rates Opportunities Fund tactically navigates jurisdictions, curve segments, and relative value dislocations to deliver alpha. This is a strategy focused on making the most of quality – capturing opportunity where others see only safety.

Worskhop Objectives: To show how Nordea’s active allocation across global covered and government bonds has consistently outperform cash rates – while staying firmly anchored in high-quality, low-risk fixed income 

Company Profile: Nordea Asset Management (NAM), is part of the Nordea Group, the largest financial services group in the Nordic region.
NAM is an active asset manager dedicated to delivering returns with responsibility. Sustainability and responsible investment are deeply rooted in our Nordic DNA, and this is evident in our corporate culture.
Our growing third-party distribution franchise services a wide range of international fund distributors, including many of the leading global wealth managers. We distribute our products through banks, asset managers, independent financial advisors, insurance companies and family offices.

Portfolio manager Thiemo Lang discusses how the surge in electricity demand - fuelled by AI data centres and humanoid robots is catalysing innovation in advanced power electronics, grid modernization, and energy storage, offering sustained, long-term investment opportunities. 

Workshop Objectives: To understand how AI and robotics are driving electricity demand, accelerating innovation in power electronics, grids and storage, and the long-term investment opportunities they present.

Company Profile: Polar Capital are a specialist, investment-led active fund manager with a clear purpose: to be the specialist active manager of choice for investors seeking expertise, conviction and long-term results.
We focus on areas where we have real experience and a proven edge, offering strategies that aim to deliver strong, diversified growth.
Our success comes from the things that define us – deep investment knowledge, enduring client relationships and a culture built on teamwork and integrity. We manage our fund capacity carefully to protect performance and keep our focus where it matters most: delivering for our investors.
Since launching in 2001, we have grown steadily and now have 14 independent investment teams managing specialist, active portfolios with combined assets under management of €32.5bn (at 31/12/2025).

Tim Love, Head of Global Emerging Market (EM) equities, explains why EM equities currently offer a particularly compelling entry point. Macro stability is improving across key regions, while important structural growth drivers - demographics, digital adoption, and supply chain realignment - remain intact. Tim will explain how the Rathbone SICAV Global Emerging Markets Fund offers a differentiated, tried-and-tested way to access the exciting opportunity set. Tim’s highly-experienced team has worked together for over 30 years and combines deep local insights with consistency of approach. Proprietary top-down overlays enhance country and sector allocation, while a core, style-agnostic philosophy focuses on liquid, high-governance companies.

Workshop Objective: To deepen understanding of the improving backdrop and structural growth drivers in Emerging Markets and explore how our experienced investment team applies a consistent, style‑agnostic and high‑governance approach to navigating Emerging Market complexity with discipline.

Company Profile: Rathbones Asset Management is a UK fund manager, with 16.6 billion AUM (as at 31 Dec 2025). We offer actively managed equity, fixed income and multi-asset capabilities including a wide range of sustainable strategies.

We manage your investments with a clear goal: generate alpha consistently over time. Our long-term performance track record as an active, high conviction manager is built on a culture of empowerment, independent thinking, and institutional discipline.

An introduction to Royal London Asset Management’s Tilt strategies, a range of regional passive-like equity approaches with material carbon intensity reduction. The session will provide an overview of how the strategies work, taking a benchmark aware approach and applying small, systematic tilts rather than large active positions. The presentation will outline how the strategies are managed and why we believe this approach can be delivered through an ETF structure, drawing on Royal London Asset Management’s experience in systematic equity management.

Workshop Objectives: To provide an overview of Royal London Asset Management’s Tilt strategies, which take a benchmark-aware approach and apply small systematic tilts that reduce carbon intensity and can be efficiently delivered via an ETF structure.

Company Profile: Owned by clients. Managed for clients. We’re a different kind of asset manager.  As an integral part of customer-owned mutual Royal London, we put our clients at the heart of what we do. Being part of a mutual allows us to focus on the long term for your benefit, without the shareholder pressures faced by many other financial services providers. At Royal London Asset Management you will find proven solutions, a principled approach, and a trusted partner. It’s asset management excellence with a longer-term perspective.

In this session, VanEck presents two strategies that reflect our approach to building differentiated, conviction-driven ETFs—across both core income and thematic growth.

Our Global Dividend ETF, Europe’s leading global dividend ETF by flows, demonstrates how a core allocation can deliver a differentiated return profile. With a 10-year track record and over $8 billion in AUM, it highlights the strength of a disciplined dividend strategy.

At the other end of the spectrum, our Space Innovators ETF provides access to the rapidly evolving space economy. Since its launch in 2022, it has become Europe’s largest space ETF, with over $1 billion in AUM. We explore the key segments driving growth and the long-term investment opportunity.

Workshop Objectives: Explore how VanEck's differentiated approach to ETF construction delivers distinct outcomes for investors — from a battle-tested dividend strategy to a first-mover position in the emerging space economy.

Company Profile: VanEck is a family owned global investment manager and ETF provider focused on identifying the economic, technological, political and social shifts that create long term investment opportunities. 
 
We were one of the first asset managers to offer an international fund in the US in 1955, and one of the first to provide access to gold mining stocks in the US in 1968. That heritage of identifying important structural trends early continues to shape our investment approach today. 
 
With over $215 billion in AUM globally, VanEck manages the vast majority of its assets through ETFs, alongside a smaller offering of active strategies, digital asset strategies and SMAs. 
 
In Europe, VanEck manages over $40 billion in assets, with the majority invested across 37 UCITS ETFs. These include thematic strategies, hard assets, strategic equity, dividend equities, crypto ETNs and other targeted exposures. Data as of 8th April 2026.

The world is becoming more resource-hungry. Artificial intelligence-driven data centre buildouts, the energy transition and electric vehicles are pushing raw material demand higher. Take copper. An electric vehicle uses roughly four times as much copper as a traditional internal combustion engine car.

Demand alone does not create an investment case. The key question is whether supply can keep pace. Many metals and rare earths face structurally constrained supply, with production and processing heavily concentrated and slow to expand. Mine development timelines are long, and new capacity cannot come online quickly.

Geopolitics adds another strategic dimension. Governments are increasingly treating critical minerals as matters of national interest and supporting new supply chains. For investors, this creates a differentiated opportunity across the strategic metals and rare earths value chain.

Workshop Objectives: Strategic metals and rare earths are central to electrification and AI-driven demand, while supply remains constrained and geopolitically sensitive. We outline the investment opportunity across the strategic metals and rare earths value chain.

Company Profile: WisdomTree is a global financial innovator and the world’s largest independent ETP provider, with $136 billion in assets under management globally (as of 29 October 2025). Since launching in Europe in 2014, WisdomTree has built one of the region’s most diverse and innovative UCITS ETF and ETP ranges across commodities, equities, fixed income, currencies, and digital assets. Combining research-driven design with industry-first products, WisdomTree helps investors access unique opportunities and diversify portfolios in a transparent and efficient way.