<div id="readability-page-1"><div> How committed are asset managers to responsible investing, and how effectively do they reflect that commitment in their brand? That is the core question behind the Responsible Investment Brand Index (RIBI), now in its eighth edition. The index, published today, evaluates 632 asset managers worldwide. The index measures two dimensions. <ul> <li>The first is Commitment: the actual engagement with responsible investing, assessed using Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) transparency reports across up to 300 parameters in five categories — from organizational strategy and ESG integration to stewardship.</li> <li>The second is Brand: the ability to embed that commitment in a firm's external identity, through a clearly articulated purpose, a coherent value system, and consistent positioning. The combination of the two produces four categories: Avant-Gardists, Traditionalists, Aspirants, and Laggards.</li> </ul> ESG Under Fire This eighth edition arrives in difficult terrain. Performance disappointments, regulatory confusion around frameworks such as SFDR 2.0, and an increasingly politicized debate — particularly in the US — have put the industry under pressure. The authors note that sustainability, once a source of industry-wide momentum, has become a fault line. The RIBI positions itself deliberately outside the normative debate. It does not assess whether ESG works. It measures the consistency between conviction and communication. <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.finews.com/images/news/2026/04/infografik_ribi_copy.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="646" height="390" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.finews.com/images/news/2026/04/infografik_ribi_copy.png"/> Switzerland: Strong on Commitment, less so on Brand. (Image: provided) Switzerland: Strong on Substance, Quiet on Messaging With a Commitment score of 3.40, Switzerland ranks among Europe's leading nations — well above the global average of 2.31. Its Brand score of 1.95 edges above the average of 1.76, a respectable but not outstanding result. The RIBI sums up the Swiss chapter bluntly: «They could use their brands to greater advantage.» Half of Swiss firms are classified as Traditionalists — firms that do exemplary work internally but show too little of it externally. Shifting Fortunes at UBS Asset Management The changes in Switzerland's Top 10 ranking between 2025 and 2026 illustrate the point clearly: <table> <thead> <tr> <td>Rank</td> <td>RIBI 2025</td> <td>Category</td> <td>RIBI 2026</td> <td>Category</td> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>Pictet Asset Management</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Pictet Asset Management</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td>UBS Asset Management</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Mirabaud Asset Management</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td>Mirabaud Asset Management</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Partners Group</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td>Partners Group</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Vontobel</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td>Zuercher Kantonalbank</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Zuercher Kantonalbank</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td>Vontobel</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>GAM Holding</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7</td> <td>Zurich Invest</td> <td>Traditionalist</td> <td>UBS Asset Management</td> <td>Traditionalist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td>GAM Holding</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Banque Cantonale Vaudoise</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td>Banque Cantonale Vaudoise</td> <td>Avant-Gardist</td> <td>Zurich Invest</td> <td>Traditionalist</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td>Lombard Odier Investment Managers</td> <td>Traditionalist</td> <td>LGT Capital Partners</td> <td>Traditionalist</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="5"> Source: Responsible Investment Brand Index</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> The most striking move belongs to UBS Asset Management, which falls from second to seventh and loses its Avant-Gardist classification in the process. The firm — Switzerland's number one just two years ago — now carries the Traditionalist label. The drop reflects not a weakening of conviction, but a failure to project that conviction outward. LGT Capital Partners enters the Swiss Top 10 for the first time, displacing Lombard Odier Investment Managers. France Overtakes Japan At the global level, DPAM leads the overall ranking, followed by Pictet Asset Management and Candriam — two firms that have appeared in the global Top 10 without interruption since the first RIBI edition in 2018. At the country level, France overtakes Japan as the world's leading nation for the first time, with 52 percent of its firms classified as Avant-Gardists. Southern Europe records the strongest score improvement of any region, up 17 percent. The US remains the weakest developed market, with a Commitment score of just 1.53. A Culture Worth Building Jean-François Hirschel, co-founder of the RIBI and chief executive of H-Ideas, offers a pointed conclusion: «A well-defined brand is not a marketing tool. It is a promise — and the most valuable one an asset manager can make.» Co-author Markus Kramer adds: «Knowing what you stand for, and communicating it with conviction, builds a resilient culture, attracts the right talent, and earns the kind of trust that no price war can replace.» <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.finews.com/images/news/2026/04/markusandjf.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="646" height="450" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.finews.com/images/news/2026/04/markusandjf.jpg"/> RIBI founders Jean-François Hirschel (left) and Markus Kramer. (Image: provided) Valuable, but Not Without Limits The RIBI fills a genuine gap and has delivered directionally useful trend data across eight editions. That said, the Commitment score relies exclusively on PRI transparency reports. Any firm that has not signed the PRI automatically receives a zero — regardless of how seriously it actually pursues responsible investing. This implicitly treats PRI membership as a proxy for quality, a premise that invites debate. A Useful Compass The Brand score likewise applies highly formalized criteria: whether a purpose statement is concise, begins with a verb, and expresses societal ambition. Caveats aside, the RIBI remains, a singular quantitative instrument and a genuinely useful compass for the industry. finews previously covered the 2025 edition. </div></div>

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The 2026 Responsible Investment Brand Index reveals that UBS Asset Management has dropped from second to seventh place, losing its Avant-Gardist status due to ineffective communication of its commitment to responsible investing. While Switzerland ranks high in commitment, its brand messaging is lacking, with half of its firms classified as Traditionalists. Globally, DPAM leads the ranking, and France surpasses Japan as the top nation for responsible investment. The index emphasizes the importance of a well-defined brand as a promise that builds trust and attracts talent.

Responsible Investment: UBS Asset Management Loses Avant-Gardist Status