Private banks can usually count on the money they attract staying with them. But the market upheavals have shaken confidence in some of the top wealth managers, persuading wealthy individuals to take their money elsewhere. This has worked to the advantage of the mid-size Swiss private banks.

Quoted mid-size wealth managers have all reported significant inflows from private clients for the first half of 2008. The best performance came from EFG International, a Zurich-based private bank with SFr100.9bn (£50.4bn, €63.2bn, $92.6bn) of assets under management, which posted SFr14bn in net new money.