Pictet Asset Management is playing the long-game in its U.S. expansion push

Swiss asset manager Pictet Asset Management is pursuing U.S. expansion on a deliberately long horizon, and executives in its New York office say investors should not expect a wave of product launches or a hiring surge over the next year, according to Pensions & Investments (P&I). Rick Bisignano, who joined Pictet in October as U.S. head of institutional distribution after leading the East region for the institutional client group at Allspring Global Investments, told P&I that the firm's private partnership structure allows it to build an institutional business over several years. "You may win mandates after a year of being in the mix or being in the market, but that might be more luck than skill," Bisignano said. "Institutional investors take a very long time. The due diligence process takes a long time. Investment consultants take a long time to rate products. So this is a long-term plan."

The appointment follows Pictet's ongoing U.S. push. In 2025, the firm launched its first U.S. ETFs and hired Goldman Sachs Asset Management veteran Benjamin Becker to oversee distribution for those funds. Pictet had $353 billion of AUM globally as of Oct. 31. The firm does not disclose AUM by region, but reported $474 million in U.S. institutional assets as of Dec. 31 in P&I's largest money managers survey. Elizabeth Dillon, named Pictet's U.S. CEO in 2020, said there is no specific timeline for growing the U.S. institutional business and cited the firm's Japan experience, where Pictet entered in the 1980s, remained through the Asian market downturn and maintains a large presence today, as a model. "When the partners decided that we would enter the U.S. market, knowing that institutional is half of the market, essentially, they also knew it's a competitive market too and that it will take time," Dillon said.

Bisignano described the U.S. team as "well resourced" and said there are no plans for significant distribution hiring. His early priority is determining which Pictet strategies fit different institutional client types. He described the firm's offerings, which include thematic equity, European direct lending and emerging markets products, as a "multiboutique structure." He highlighted enhanced index strategies from Quest as particularly attractive to U.S. defined contribution plan sponsors given their low tracking error and consistent performance. "Institutional investors don't need more of the same," Bisignano said. "They need unique sources of alpha and unique return patterns to help further diversify their institutional portfolios." Pictet has no plans to extend alternative strategies to the U.S. defined contribution market despite regulatory changes, he added. Allspring is currently searching for Bisignano's replacement as head of institutional distribution for the East region.