Podcast: Making of the Forbes x GenTwo Assetization Leaders List

This podcast is part of The Assetizer, GenTwo's thought leadership platform.

Note: Forbes and GenTwo are looking for innovators disrupting the asset management and investment universes to feature on the new Assetization Leaders List. Apply here.

Forbes is known for its iconic lists—from the Billionaires ranking to 30 Under 30. Now, in partnership with GenTwo, Forbes is creating the first-ever Assetization Leaders list to spotlight innovators who are transforming what can be invested in and who can invest.

This week I had the pleasure sit down with Klaus Fiala, editor-in-chief of Forbest Switzerland, to discuss assetization, our new list, and other topics of interest. 

As Klaus explains, "Assetization in a nutshell is to turn everything that carries value into an asset." But who qualifies as an Assetization Leader? While the applications are still coming in (and you can still apply), Klaus shares what Forbes is looking for: genuine novelty, expanding investment horizons, democratizing access, and offering stories worth telling. As he puts it, they're much more interested in "someone building something in the basement" than "a big bank pushing out the 700,000th certificate."

What makes this list different from other Forbes rankings is that there's no single metric like wealth to rank by. Instead, a jury of experts will identify pioneers based on multiple criteria—making for a more nuanced but potentially more valuable spotlight on innovation.

The application process has already revealed surprising breadth in approaches to Assetization—from traditional finance to art markets and intellectual property. This diversity shows how widely the concept is being interpreted and applied.

We also explore Switzerland's unique position in financial innovation—how the country tops global innovation indexes but sometimes hesitates to "go the last mile" in emerging sectors. Klaus offers a fascinating insider-outsider perspective on the Swiss approach to wealth management and emerging technologies. Last but not least, we get an insider’s perspective on where AI can – and cannot – help when it comes to writing and creating content.

As for the future? If this list succeeds, it will become "the gold standard of an industry"—not just highlighting friends of GenTwo, but truly identifying those leaders driving financial innovation forward for everyone.
 

Key Topics Covered

• The concept of Assetization
• What qualities Forbes is looking for in Assetization Leaders
• How this list differs from other Forbes rankings
• The surprising diversity of early applications
• Switzerland's strengths and limitations as an innovation hub
• The impact of AI on wealth management
• Where AI can help, and where it can’t, in journalism and writing
• The potential future of Assetization to let people "invest in what they want to invest in"

About Our Guest

Klaus Fiala is the Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Switzerland. He became Editor-in-Chief in January 2019, having started with Forbes in 2015 in Vienna and serving as bureau chief in Zurich from 2017 to 2019. He has a background in economics, studied in Vienna and Madrid, and previously worked in stock market reporting at the Austrian Press Agency (APA-Finance).
 

Tom Lyons 
Head of Communications and Content, GenTwo