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Tag: Switserland

  • How the Banking Industry Drives Switzerland’s Economic Power

    How the Banking Industry Drives Switzerland’s Economic Power

    The banking association Swiss Banking has presented a study that underscores the importance of the financial industry for the Swiss economy. To ensure this remains the case, prudent strategic decisions and smart, focused regulation are needed.

    The study, commissioned by Swiss Banking (Swiss Bankers Association, SBA) and conducted by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, concludes that the banking industry plays a key role in supporting economic growth and strengthening Switzerland’s capacity for innovation.

    In 2024, the Swiss financial sector contributed CHF 74 billion to the national economy, which corresponds to 9 percent of GDP. Of this contribution, 57 percent came from banking services (5 percent of GDP), and 43 percent from insurance and other financial service providers.

    Around 160’000 highly qualified professionals work in the banking sector. For each job in the industry, there is an additional job in another sector that depends on it. Annual tax contributions amount to CHF 7 billion, making banks one of the most important sectors in the Swiss economy. Every eighth tax franc comes from the financial industry, emphasized Swiss Banking President Marcel Rohner during the presentation of the study on Friday in Zurich.

    The Swiss financial center is considered one of the most important worldwide and is a key pillar for prosperity, innovation, and international connectivity in Switzerland. This has led to more favorable financing conditions and a lower interest rate level in Switzerland than abroad for many years, Rohner added. This represents an important competitive advantage for companies and also has positive effects for consumers.

    Another factor is the success in international wealth management,» said association CEO Roman Studer. Some of these assets also contribute to financing volumes.

    The industry provides efficient access to capital for both private and corporate clients – nationally and internationally. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a stable supply of credit is essential. There is a close symbiosis between the banking sector and the broader economy.

    The financial sector is growing, and much has emerged in recent years, said Rohner. He cited examples such as the relatively young financial service providers Swissquote and Partners Group, which are successful global publicly listed companies, as well as fully licensed digital asset banks like Amina and Sygnum. In 2024, there were 484 fintech firms.

    As a result, the financial ecosystem is deepening, and fintechs and banks are increasingly benefiting from one another. New markets are emerging with digital assets, such as crypto ETPs, ESG investments, or impact investments.

    To ensure that Switzerland’s financial center remains successful in the future, prudent strategic decisions are needed. Economic openness, smart and focused regulation, and a solid reputation, especially about money laundering or terrorism financing, are key to the financial center’s competitiveness.

    Regulation must be internationally aligned. This also includes robust and broad-based liquidity safeguards as well as solid and competitive capital requirements. We must and want to learn the right lessons from the Credit Suisse case, emphasized Studer. This includes liquidity safeguards and resolution capabilities. That must also apply to UBS.

    The only remaining major Swiss bank plays a crucial role in the ecosystem, from which smaller banks also benefit. «UBS is important on the corporate client side, and we need a global bank that can offer products and services others cannot, Rohner said.

    The position of the Swiss banking sector should not be taken for granted and must be protected,» he added. «We want to take good care of our financial center and shape it with ambition, in line with our tradition of excellence, trust, integrity, and stability. That’s how we stay globally relevant and future-ready. That is our responsibility – and our opportunity.

    When it comes to regulation and capital requirements for UBS, a middle ground will be found – I’m confident there’s no insurmountable divide.

    The fact that the political process is dragging on has both advantages and disadvantages. The extended timeline creates uncertainty, but also ensures that questions are addressed holistically rather than in isolation.

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  • UBS Switzerland Marketing Manager Moves to Group

    UBS Switzerland Marketing Manager Moves to Group

    UBS named a new head of marketing and digital sales for its Switzerland business to replace the current manager who is moving to another role within the bank at the group level.

    After eight years as the head of marketing and digital sales for UBS Switzerland, Daniel Fischer is moving to group communications and branding starting January 1, reporting to the head of the team Marsha Askins, according to an internal memo seen by finews.com and confirmed by a UBS spokesperson.

    To replace him, UBS recruited Aydin Sahin as the new head of marketing and digital sales for UBS Switzerland, who joins on January 1, and also become a member of the business forum COO Switzerland, reporting to the COO of the Swiss unit Sabine Magri who wrote the memo.

    Sahin’s career at Commerzbank spanned 12 years, where he was jointly responsible for the company’s digitalization and growth strategy in various management positions, most recently as head of marketing & customer Intelligence at Commerzbank and Comdirect.

    The past two years have been characterized by the definition of our strategy and the start of its implementation, with clearly defined growth areas, a strong focus on digitalization and transformation, as well as the corresponding alignment of the organization. We have achieved a lot and gained excellent momentum in the market, Magri wrote the memo announcing the changes.

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  • Switzerland’s First Private Digital Bank is Open for Business

    Switzerland’s First Private Digital Bank is Open for Business

    Swiss digital bank Alpian received its banking license from Finma in April. The launch of its private banking app marks the start of business operations.

    Alpian bills itself as the first Finma-licensed digital private bank in Switzerland. The app, through which the bank exclusively offers its services, is now available for download in the Apple and Google Play Stores, according to a statement on Tuesday.

    The bank’s digital service geared toward mobile devices, combines everyday services and private banking, bringing a new combination of banking and investment services to the market. The hybrid concept combines a secure, state-of-the-art banking platform with the support and advice of experienced wealth advisors, it said.

    The offering is designed to give affluent clients access to services otherwise reserved for the clientele of traditional private banks. It offers professional and highly personalized services at a management fee of 0.75 percent which Alpian calls «competitive».

    A unique selling point compared to other neo-banks is a video call function that can be used to contact advisors from within the app. Personal contact with advisors is an indispensable part of the offering, according to Alpian.

    The digital bank, originally launched by the Geneva-based Reyl Group, received its banking license from Finma in the spring after a two-year lead time. According to the information previously provided, it intends to offer its services exclusively to Swiss customers. The target group is between 100,000 and one million Swiss francs of assets.

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  • UBS Secures New Office Space in Hong Kong

    UBS Secures New Office Space in Hong Kong

    Switzerland’s largest bank will lease 250,000 square feet of new office space in Hong Kong outside the traditional central business district.

    Swiss banking giant UBS will lease 250,000 square feet of new office space in Hong Kong, according to a statement by Sun Hung Kai, the developer of the property. According to them, UBS, as the first anchor tenant, will lease the top nine floors of the tallest tower in the West Kowloon terminus project, which connects Hong Kong and mainland China via high-speed rail.

    The project is expected to be completed by 2025 and UBS is expected to occupy the new premises in early 2026. The Swiss bank plans to relocate staff from four current locations in Hong Kong, including its six-floor main office at IFC, the city’s second-tallest building.

    The new office is located across the harbor from Hong Kong island, where the main central business district is based, and rent is estimated to be around half of that paid by IFC tenants. In addition, it sits atop the high-speed rail station that should keep travel from Hong Kong to southern Guangzhou to under an hour, which is ideal for the bank’s Greater Bay Area growth strategy.

    We are excited to be moving to the workplace of the future with state-of-the-art infrastructure that brings together and empowers all of our UBS colleagues in Hong Kong under one roof, said UBS’s APAC co-head of wealth management and Hong Kong chief executive

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  • Deloitte Switzerland Expands Management Team

    Deloitte Switzerland Expands Management Team

    The Swiss accountancy firm is adding two specialists to its management team.

    Deloitte Switzerland is appointing Liza Engel to chief sustainability officer and Yousif Al-Adhami to technology advisory leader and adding both to its management board, effective immediately, it said in its results report last week.

    Engel, who has been with Deloite Switzerland for four years, was previously 15 years at Swisscom.

    Yousif Al-Adhami, heads Enterprise Technology & Performance and will make sure that Deloitte offers its clients innovative solutions encompassing strategies, technology and implementation, the report said.

    The firm is also making Veronica Melian People & Purpose Part

  • EU Looking to Lock Switzerland Out

    EU Looking to Lock Switzerland Out

    High inflation in the EU area and geopolitical uncertainties are some reasons why Europeans move assets to Switzerland. Yet as the country drifts further away from Brussels, going after these clients could become more complicated.

    Swiss banks are not allowed to proactively solicit clients in Europe unless they have a branch in the respective market.

    However, for many institutions, such as private banks and independent wealth managers, a second branch in Italy or France is, economically speaking, not worthwhile and does not fit with the business models of these institutions.

    The EU countries who have adopted this protectionist stance, do so in favor of their own banks. By contrast, Germany has made a special concession, allowing banks from third countries – such as Switzerland – a so-called exemption.

    The condition for this deal is that financial institutions adhere to certain regulations and are well supervised in their home country. It is precisely this special arrangement, of key importance to several Swiss private banks, that is under threat, as the Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

    The reason being that the EU wants to further harmonize its banking supervision. So far, only Europe’s large financial houses are monitored uniformly, while smaller houses are subject to national supervision; this explains the different practices in Germany and Italy, for example, with regard to banks from third countries.

    The EU project is now aimed at standardization, which would ban special regulations for individual countries. The driving force behind this development is France, which is primarily against the predominance of Anglo-Saxon banks on its own turf.

    Although Switzerland plays only a secondary role in the French market, if such a procedure is rolled out in other countries, it would be a harsh verdict for many Swiss private banks.

    After all, business with German clients is still lucrative and growing strongly. Estimates by the international consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) suggest that clients from the EU region and Great Britain have a good 1,000 billion Swiss francs managed by Swiss financial institutions, which employs 20,000 people at local banks and generates tax revenues of around 1.5 billion francs, as the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) recently calculated.

    The prospect of Switzerland obtaining an exclusive arrangement with the EU is also unlikely. Ultimately, any agreement depends on political willingness within the EU and after Switzerland broke off its discussions to forge an over-arching treaty the EU last year, this willingness is not great.

    Although Germany, Spain and Holland were successful in getting France to omit article 21c – which is responsible for stifling foreign banks – from the plan, observers agree that sooner or later the Paris-based European Banking Authority will bring it back to the agenda.

  • Switzerland as a Sustainability, Blockchain and Fintech Hub

    Switzerland as a Sustainability, Blockchain and Fintech Hub

    It seems rather paradoxical that Switzerland is both a hub for sustainability and an energy-gobbling blockchain hub.

    The latest data from Switzerland’s Department of Finance underscores the growing importance of blockchain and fintech for the country’s financial sector. At the same time, sustainable investments are high on the agenda in Switzerland, the two seemingly at odds with each other.

    The financial industry continues to be one of the most important sectors in Switzerland, even as other areas of the economy have grown more strongly, a report compiled by the State Secretariat for International Financial (SIF) showed.

    The contribution to the Swiss economy from financial and insurance services increased slightly to CHF 66.9 billion in 2021 compared with CHF 64.4 billion a decade ago. At the same time, Switzerland’s GDP expanded more rapidly.

    Employment figures show this as well. Most recently, around 212,000 people worked in the sector, compared with around 216,000 ten years ago. Only outside the core financial sector did employment grow in the last decade, from around 50,000 to 63,000.

    According to the data, sustainable investments showed steep growth, their volume growing by 31 percent last year to over 1.5 trillion Swiss francs, according to a market survey conducted by Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF).

    Switzerland has developed into a hub for startups in blockchain technology and fintech. The number of companies has grown to 1,128 in 2021 from 960 in the previous year, employing 6,002 people compared to 5,184 in 2020.

    According to a study, the number of fintech companies stagnated in 2021, but the volume of business nevertheless increased.

  • HSBC Switzerland Turns Profits and Cuts Jobs

    HSBC Switzerland Turns Profits and Cuts Jobs

    HSBC’s turned a profit in 2021. Planned job cuts are not expected to affect the client business.

    The Swiss subsidiary of British financial group HSBC reported a pre-tax profit of $44 million last year, more than reversing the previous year’s loss of $16 million, according to the bank’s annual report.

    The wealth & personal banking division posted a pre-tax profit of 46 million dollars, with commercial banking chipping in a further 10 million.

    Locally, the unit sees itself well positioned to benefit from rising interest rates. The roughly 100 Swiss job cuts announced in February will mainly affect IT and back-office functions, as positions are relocated to more cost-effective sites.

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  • Singapore Expands Travel Lane Scheme to Switzerland

    Singapore Expands Travel Lane Scheme to Switzerland

    Singapore will be adding two countries to the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, under which travelers will only need to take a Covid-19 swab test after arrival and before departure in Singapore.

    Vaccinated travelers from Switzerland and Australia will be able to enter Singapore without serving stay-home notices from November 8, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced on Tuesday evening.

    All Singapore Airlines flights from Switzerland to Singapore will be offered under the VTL program from November 8, with flight SQ345 operating daily between the two financial centers.

    The Alpine nation is among Singapore’s top investment and trading partners, and there are around 1,000 Swiss companies and around 3,000 Swiss expatriates in the city-state, CAAS noted.

    Switzerland’s borders are open to all travellers from Singapore. Australia plans to open its borders to skilled workers and international students by year’s end, authorities said on Wednesday.

    We are in discussions with other partners, including our regional neighbors, to reopen safely to each other, and restore our close connectivity, S. Iswaran, Transport Minister, said.

    The VTL scheme currently includes Germany, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, with South Korea to be added on November 15.

    With the announcement of the new VTLs, Singapore will also be expanding its daily quota of VTL arrivals from 3,000 to 4,000,

  • Piaget to expand store network across China

    Piaget to expand store network across China

    Piaget, the luxury watch brand from Switzerland, will be opening more stores in 2021, especially in the Middle East and China, Chief Executive Chabi Nouri has told Reuters.

    “We’ll open more stores this year. We’ll reopen a flagship store in Beverly Hills and also have projects in the Middle East and China,” Nouri noted in an interview at the Watches and Wonders online event held last week.

    Piaget, with its array of well-known sleek and slim timepieces, has opened 130 brand-specific outlets and has a network of 300 retail partners.

    Piaget said in a January statement that high demand from China had driven sales to increase by five percent in the last quarter of 2020.

    Nouri noted that Piaget, which also creates watches encrusted with gems, diamonds, and jewelry, had bolstered its e-commerce presence while remaining focused on its own outlets, retail partnerships, and online selling to assist the distribution process.

    Nouri stated that in the wake of the coronavirus disease pandemic, Piaget was left with no choice but to reassess its strategies on connecting with its customer base and partners, though not impelling it to make adjustments to its product line.

    At the Watches and Wonders event, Piaget displayed timepieces, including the Limelight Gala Precious Rainbow gold model that is bedecked with colorful rainbow-hued sapphires and is priced at $106,922.99.

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  • Switzerland and China to Deepen Finance Ties

    Switzerland and China to Deepen Finance Ties

    Despite the increasing discord between China and the U.S., Switzerland wants to further deepen its cooperation in financial matters with the Far East nation.

    Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer exchanged views with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at a virtual ministerial meeting (yesterday) Wednesday, according to a statement from the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). The two politicians each had a high-ranking delegation at their side.

    Maurer and Liu He thus developed perspectives on deepening bilateral relations in the areas of stock market trading, sustainable financial services, asset management, and digital central bank money. The central banks of both countries are known to be working on projects for digital central bank money, although the respective approach differs greatly in terms of the user base.

    China is working on a digital version of the yuan for everyone (the «retail» version of a digital currency), while the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is evaluating a so-called «wholesale» version, for the time being, a cryptocurrency reserved for the financial market.

    The latest meeting followed similar contacts in 2017 and 2019. The governments of Switzerland and China also want to intensify financial market relations in parallel with the existing free trade agreement. In this context, the Swiss financial center envisages using the opening steps in the Chinese financial market for concrete joint projects.

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  • New Head of Swiss Business Hub in Singapore

    New Head of Swiss Business Hub in Singapore

    The Swiss Embassy in Singapore appointed a new Head of the Swiss Business Hub for the ASEAN region.

    Renee Koh joined the Swiss Embassy already in November 2018 as the new Head of the Swiss Business Hub for the ASEAN region, according to a news release on Thursday.

    The Swiss Business Hub ASEAN is part of the Embassy of Switzerland in Singapore with antenna offices in the Embassies of Switzerland in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Hanoi) and at the Consulate General of Switzerland in Ho Chi Minh City.

    The Swiss Business Hub facilitates commercial relations between Switzerland and ASEAN. Its activities are supported by Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), which has been officially commissioned by the Swiss government to promote exports and investments.

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  • Garuda Indonesia, Switzerland strengthen cooperation on airplane maintenance

    Garuda Indonesia, Switzerland strengthen cooperation on airplane maintenance

    The Indonesian flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, and the Government of Switzerland will strengthen cooperation in the field of aircraft maintenance through a subsidiary of Garuda Maintenance Facilities (GMF).

    Director of Engineering and Information Technology of Garuda Indonesia, Iwan Joeniarto, said here on Friday (April 1) that the cooperation has been established in the form of arrangements for exchange of knowledge about aircraft maintenance, aircraft mechanic training and provision of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) equipment.

    In the initial phase, the cooperation arrangement will be for five years for Boeing 737 New Generation.

    “Later, we will develop this arrangement further,” he said.

    According to Iwan, the Swiss authority is interested in cooperating with the GMF because the company is very competitive and has qualified human resources.

    “We have lands that are widespread, although we still lack in infrastructure,” he said.

    The Vice President of Switzerland, Doris Leuthard, appreciated the facilities owned by Garuda Indonesia Group and hoped that the existing cooperation could be improved and continued in the future.

    “The meeting today has provided us with new insights regarding a very positive synergy between Garuda and GMF as a subsidiary,” he said.

    Vice President Leuthard assessed that Garuda and GMF together form for a great potential in Indonesia in the face of the competition in the aviation world globally.

    The official working visit of the Swiss Vice President, who is also the Minister of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), is part of a series of diplomatic visits to Indonesia.

    The Director of GMF, Juliandra Nurtjahjo, said the visit of the Vice President of Switzerland was an excellent opportunity and valuable for GMF. Also, it was in line with the companys target to be among the top 10 MROs in the world by 2020.

    “This is a very good opportunity for GMF because we can introduce our facilities and explore other areas for potential cooperation,” he said.

    Juliandra remarked that the MRO market is currently growing, including in Indonesia. There are at least 700 aircrafts that require MRO services with a market value of approximately US$ 900 million. So far, the GMF has been able to claim only about 30 percent of the market opportunity.

    Leuthard also met the Indonesian Minister of Transport, Ignasius Jonan, on Thursday (March 31).

    Both the officials renewed an agreement between Indonesian government and the Swiss Federal Council related to Scheduled Air Services in Jakarta.

    The renewal agreement aims to accommodate a wider mutual interest in the Air Service Agreement (ASA).

    The minister said although currently no Indonesian airlines flies to Switzerland, the agreement is the first step to open up opportunities in the future for Indonesian airlines to serve flights to the country.

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