Orson Welles was not a great fan of the Swiss. 'In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace and what did that produce?...The cuckoo clock,' he said in the script for The Third Man.

Institutional investors are substantially better disposed towards the Swiss, judging by the results of this year's R&M Survey, in association with Financial News. The survey, which is now in its tenth edition, shows that Swiss banks hold the top three places, with Pictet continuing to hold a commanding lead over its neighbours.