Last year was another bad one for foreign banks in Switzerland, which saw an overall drop in profits of 38 per cent, after profits had already fallen by 31 per cent in 2008.

Although profits fell from SFr3,13 billion in 2008 ($2.3 billion) to SFr1.95 billion in 2009, the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland said in a statement that last year “was better than expected, although it did not lead to the turnaround hoped for.”

Added value was also down 18 per cent, having fallen 15 per cent in 2008, the Association, which represents 155 foreign banks in Switzerland, revealed in its 2009 economic figures.

Foreign banks are an important part of the Swiss banking industry, as about 45 per cent of all Swiss-based banks are foreign. They contribute to about two per cent of the Swiss GDP.

The banks’ total client assets were up from about SFr941 billion at the end of 2008 to about SFr983 billion at the end of 2009.

There was an eight per cent drop in employees, which represents a reduction from 28,359 at the end of 2008 to 26,256 at the end of 2009.

The biggest foreign wealth managers in Switzerland are HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), Sarasin & Cie, BSI, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) and Crédit Agricole (Suisse).

The Association said that only 38 per cent of the foreign banks active in Switzerland today were already active in the same form as in 2001: 62 per cent are either new or have changed due to M&A activity.