Swiss investors have accelerated their use of exchange-traded fund savings plans, with volumes executed on BX Swiss rising 44.6% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from the Swiss exchange published on Thursday.
The increase reflects both higher investment amounts and broader diversification. The average number of instruments per execution date climbed 27.9% year-on-year. Despite strong market interest in artificial intelligence and technology equities, the most popular savings plan products remain broadly diversified global funds. The three highest-volume savings plans all track the FTSE All-World index, which together with one additional FTSE All-World ETF accounted for 45.2% of total savings plan volume among the 50 most-traded products. Nine funds focused explicitly on the U.S. or technology strategies contributed just 13.4% of volume.
Sustainability-themed funds also played a limited role. Products explicitly classified as sustainable or ESG-oriented represented 12.7% of the total volume surveyed, with two such funds ranking among the top ten by volume.
David Kunz, capital markets expert at BX Swiss, noted that the dominance of broad, diversified world ETFs suggests savers are increasingly using savings plans as a long-term wealth-building tool rather than chasing short-term trends.
The Swiss market is still catching up to broader European trends. In continental Europe, 15.1 million ETF savings plans were executed monthly in 2025, with annual volume rising 29% year-on-year to €22.7 billion, according to the European Saving Plan Study cited in the release. Germany remains the largest European market due to its established product range, though Swiss banks and digital finance providers have expanded their offerings in recent years.
Adoption in Switzerland remains relatively low. A study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, referenced by BX Swiss, found that only 9% of Swiss ETF investors currently use a savings plan, while 48% expressed interest in doing so.
Savings plan execution patterns are also evolving. Traditionally concentrated at the start of the month, activity has increasingly spread across mid-month and month-end dates, resulting in a more evenly distributed flow throughout the month.
The most popular savings plan product is the Invesco FTSE All-World UCITS ETF Acc, followed by two other funds tracking the same index. The first explicitly AI-focused fund, the Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data UCITS ETF, ranks fifth.
The BX Swiss data covers only savings plan transactions executed on its platform from January through July 2026 and may not reflect the entire Swiss ETF market.
