Mirabaud Asset Management has held its Avant Gardist classification in the 2026 Responsible Investment Brand Index (RIBI) while improving its position in both the Switzerland country ranking and the global boutiques category, according to results published April 29.
Avant Gardist is the highest tier in the RIBI’s four-level classification system. Reaching it requires above-average performance on two separate measures: depth of commitment to responsible investment, drawn from UN PRI transparency data, and brand — the degree to which that commitment is expressed consistently through purpose, values, and external communications. Fewer than one in four of the 632 asset managers assessed in 2026 achieved Avant Gardist status, and Mirabaud Asset Management held that designation for a consecutive year.
Within the Switzerland ranking, the firm moved up one place to second. Globally among boutique managers — asset managers with assets under management below EUR 100bn, covering the Boutique and Mid-tier segments — the firm ranked third, also advancing one position from the prior edition.
Holding Avant Gardist status two years running matters in a context where the RIBI measures consistency, not one-time outcomes. The index’s methodology draws on hundreds of publicly available data points and does not accept self-reported inputs, meaning a firm cannot engineer a result through disclosure choices alone. For Mirabaud Asset Management, the back-to-back designation reflects a combination of documented responsible investment practice and a brand architecture that communicates those practices clearly to outside audiences.
The boutique sub-ranking carries particular weight for Mirabaud. Managers in that category compete against peers who often have fewer resources to invest in brand development and communications, yet the RIBI’s findings suggest that boutiques with a coherent institutional identity tend to outperform expectations in this framework. Mirabaud Asset Management’s third-place global finish in the category, up from fourth the year prior, puts it among the top-ranked boutique managers worldwide on this measure.
The broader 2026 RIBI findings pointed to an industry under real pressure. Fee compression, commoditization driven by technology, and political backlash against ESG in several major markets have tested managers’ commitment to their stated positions on responsible investment. RIBI’s authors observed that this environment has made institutional identity more commercially urgent — firms with a defined and visible sense of purpose tend to retain credibility with institutional clients and consultants in ways that purely product-oriented firms do not.
Mirabaud Asset Management’s parent, Mirabaud Group, has been a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment since 2010. The Group was founded in Geneva in 1819 and is led by managing partners Camille Vial, Nicolas Mirabaud, and Lionel Aeschlimann. Responsibility is one of four values the Group identifies as foundational, alongside independence, conviction, and passion.
