Large estates, delayed inheritance and international structures are changing the way wealth is being passed on. For private banking, succession planning is becoming a core strategic task.
In 2025, around CHF 100 billion was bequeathed or gifted in Switzerland. This represents a historic high compared with the CHF 32 billion recorded in 2000. Today, wealth transfers are happening later on, on a more international scale and are more concentrated than ever before. For private banking, this gives rise to tasks that go far beyond traditional wealth management.
The annual amount of wealth transferred in Switzerland has increased fivefold since 1990. According to a study by Marius Brülhart and the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S), the CHF 100 billion threshold was crossed for the first time in 2025. This is almost double the total amount paid out in state pensions across the whole of Switzerland annually.
A wave with a new structure
However, it is not so much the amounts involved as the structure that is crucial: wealth is being transferred later in life, in a more concentrated form, and increasingly across borders. Baby boomers are now beginning to pass on their wealth. Private wealth has grown more sharply over the years than wages and economic output. On top of this, increasing life expectancy is pushing back the age at which people inherit, with those inheriting today often being close to retirement age themselves.
Wealth is being transferred later in life, in a more concentrated form, and increasingly across borders.
A clear concentration can also be observed: around three-quarters of the total value of inheritances is accounted for by the top 10% of estates. These therefore represent a key factor in wealth accumulation, with corresponding demands on wealth succession and potential sources of family tensions.
A complex legal situation
Swiss private wealth is rarely confined to Switzerland alone: a residence in Zug, property in France, bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and children living in several countries – such arrangements are not the exception but rather the rule for the high-net-worth segment.
Two developments add to this complexity. First, the European Succession Regulation takes the last habitual (actual) residence as its point of reference. Second, the latest revision of Swiss private international law has opened up additional scope for wealth planning for dual nationals. In the absence of a will, the transfer of assets is determined by the deceased’s place of residence, the location of the assets, family circumstances and legal jurisdictions.
In Switzerland, spouses are exempt from inheritance and gift tax, as are direct descendants in most cantons. The challenge therefore lies less in the tax burden itself than in coordinating it across cantonal and national borders. The fact that inheritance and gift taxes are regulated at cantonal level and are only coordinated to a limited extent internationally adds to the complexity. Those who do not actively structure their financial affairs leave key decisions to the logic of the system and, by extension, to chance.
For private banking, this development represents both an opportunity and a watershed moment. Traditional wealth management remains the basis, but it is increasingly unable to differentiate itself. A significant part of value creation is shifting towards the coordination of complex succession situations.
What is needed is an integrated approach that brings together legal structuring, tax issues, liquidity planning and family governance across borders; wealth planning as a service acts as the link between the individual phases.
Increased life expectancy has a twofold effect here: it not only delays the transfer of assets, but also extends the period during which assets are consolidated and restructured within a single generation. In many cases, the surviving spouse plays a defining role over a number of years before the assets are passed on to the next generation.
Swiss law offers several tried-and-tested planning tools: the 2023 revision of the country’s inheritance law has expanded freedom of testamentary disposition, whilst private international law has created new options. However, they are only most effective when used in conjunction with one another and, above all, only if wealth and succession planning takes place in good time.
Four key questions
Anyone wishing to pass on their assets should ask themselves four fundamental questions:
- Who should receive the assets?
- When should those assets be transferred?
- In what form?
- And within which legal framework?
The transfer of assets by baby boomers is not a one-off event, but rather a process spanning several years. Consequently, the answers to these questions also change over time, whether due to family, economic or legal changes. Those who ask these questions early on and review them regularly create clarity and room for manoeuvre; those who fail to do so leave key decisions to others.
This article is taken from the Private Banking special supplement, published on 30 May 2026.
This document is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice, nor a recommendation. Tax and succession implications depend on individual circumstances and jurisdiction; please consult qualified advisors.
