For the second consecutive year, Bank Sarasin has been named the "Best private bank for socially responsible investing" by The Banker and Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazines, part of the Financial Times Group. The Global Private Banking Awards celebrate excellence in wealth management and this prestigious award gives Bank Sarasin recognition for its exemplary track record and leading approach to sustainable asset management.

Bank Sarasin has more than 20 years of experience in sustainable asset management and is the leading provider of socially responsible investments in Switzerland, with 27% market share (31 December 2010). Especially in recent years, the important role of sustainable investing in reducing risk and protecting clients' assets has become ever more apparent. Bank Sarasin's sustainable investment process, for example, excluded Greek government bonds, investment banks, certain oil companies and providers of nuclear energy from its investment universe. This was of particular benefit to clients in light of the financial crisis, as well as with regard to the disasters in the Gulf of Mexico and at Fukushima. Total assets managed according to sustainable criteria by the Sarasin Group amount to CHF 13.7 billion (30 June 2011).

The Global Private Banking Awards presented by The Banker and Professional Wealth Management magazines, both published by the Financial Times Group, were established with the aim of provoking a move to greater transparency and accountability in the growing global wealth management industry. The process intends to favour those institutions which aim to improve the private client experience.

The winners were chosen by a jury of eight independent industry experts, who compared detailed entries from 65 institutions based in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Latin America. As well as a range of quantitative factors, including key indicators such as asset evolution, advisor-to-client-ratios and a number of measures determining financial stability, the judges looked at the banks' performance in key asset classes, asset allocation techniques and implementation of environmental, social and governance principles (ESG principles) in portfolio management. A significant input in the evaluation of the quantitative aspects of the private banking groups was provided by the 9th Annual Private Banking Benchmark study, a global key performance indicators analysis, carried out by Scorpio Partnership this year.