"Five years ago, people did not take us particularly serious..."

ZWEI: You founded ZWEI Wealth together with Klaus Wellershoff 5 years ago. What motivated you to launch a new financial services company?

There were several reasons. I worked for UBS in various functions for 15 years and was able to get to know all areas of Swiss private banking. After the financial crisis, I became more and more aware that it will be incresingly difficult for a bank to provide private banking services as a consulting business. This is for a variety of reasons. In addition, I always saw myself as an entrepreneur. So it was obvious to implement my own ideas of consulting services in an own company – without any ifs or buts. Of course it was very helpful that Klaus Wellershoff, someone with a lot of experience and conviction, supported the development of the business idea.

How would you define good wealth management today?

Like many things in life, good wealth management has become significantly more complex in recent years. Today, it requires a greater degree of professionalism in each field. I define good wealth management as a well-coordinated interaction between the customer, customer representatives, banking service providers and specialized asset managers.

You coined the concept of 'wealth architecture' at ZWEI Wealth. What does it stand for?

The term has become established, because a few years ago when communication with customers we started talking less and less about technical aspects such as asset allocation and portfolio optimization. Instead, we tried to present the portfolios as rooms of a house, each one with its own function. This has proven to be very successful. It makes it easier for customers to understand and this must always be one of the central aspirations of good consulting. The customer must be able to understand. Since I actually wanted to become an architect when younger, the circle is complete and now I can at least 'design' assets instead of houses.

I define good wealth management as a well-coordinated interaction between the customer, customer representatives, banking service providers and specialized asset managers.

Patrick Müller, CEO and founding member of ZWEI Wealth

In your opinion, what has ZWEI Wealth particularly achieved for customers in the past five years?

A lot. When we started five years ago, we were at time laughed at when presenting our idea. We heard a lot of doubts about our approach. It was said that the customers are not ready to pay for consulting or that the banks and asset managers were not willing to work with us. We have provided counter evidence for both. Today, we can claim to have established new standards in terms of transparency, competition, customer orientation and cooperation between service providers.

Finally, a few either-or questions:

• Return or risk? Return. I would actually call for risk. However, my experience shows that risk is misunderstood by most people so that they are misled by false promises.
• ETF or individual stocks? Individual stocks. I also prefer chefs who work with basic ingredients instead of finished products.
• Apple or Google? Apple. I am a design fan.
• Sunrise or Swisscom? Swisscom because I still associate them with excellent quality.
• Beer or wine? Wine as I often combine drinking wine with a good discussion in a group.
• Cinema or Netflix? Movie theater. Series hardly manage to cast a spell on me.
• Fast or accurate? Fast. I know from the hospitality industry how important it is to deliver in time. This is only possible if you have your mise-en-place ready. If you are well prepared, you can act fast.