ISFB Management Assistant Certificate: professionalizing a key function. Interview with Julien Froidevaux

July 1, 2025

At the heart of wealth management, the role of management assistant is evolving and becoming more professional. To meet the sector's growing demands, ISFB is launching a dedicated certificate, combining technical expertise and behavioral skills. Julien Froidevaux, Program Director, explains the challenges, structure and ambitions of this new program.

Julien Froidevaux, you are the Program Director of the ISFB Management Assistant certificate. Can you tell us about this program and who it is aimed at?

The ISFB Management Assistant certificate is a new program, based largely on the existing ISFB Private Banking certificate, with a common core of the first 10 modules, followed by 5 specific modules with a more practical focus on day-to-day activities and other "soft skills" specific to the profession.

This program has been designed to meet the concrete needs of the management assistant profession, a central function in asset management, which supports the manager in customer relations, processing requests and administrative follow-up within a demanding regulatory framework.

It enables participants to master wealth management products and services, understand their professional environment and develop key behavioral skills such as communication and priority management.

In your opinion, what makes this program so rich and high quality?

The first modules cover the basics of the main asset classes (equities, bonds, investment funds, currencies in particular), current issues (sustainable finance, compliance) and other more global topics (banking systems, investment strategy, credit and financing).

The last 5 modules are more specific, dealing with key aspects of the function, not only from an operational point of view, but also in terms of human relations and organization.

What do you see as the main challenges in this area, and how does this program provide concrete solutions?

Whatever their title or specific function within banking establishments or other financial intermediaries, management assistants play an absolutely vital role in maintaining customer relations, particularly in a context of tightening regulatory requirements.

The need for greater professionalism in the asset management industry (particularly with the introduction of the CWMA in Switzerland) also applies to the assistant function, which is becoming increasingly similar to that of the Relationship Manager.

What is your role as Program Director?

The main role is to ensure that the content is consistent with the current requirements of the profession.

This also means ensuring that the certificate is aligned with the ISFB's overall training offering, proposing experienced lecturers to guarantee pedagogical quality, and integrating feedback from participants and partner establishments.

As Program Director, I ensure that each session keeps pace with developments in the industry, while supporting learners throughout their training and representing the program to the various stakeholders.

Julien Froidevaux

Head of Independent Managers Service

Piguet Galland & Cie SA

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