Digital bank Alpian to launch in Switzerland

FINMA-licensed digital wealth manager Alpian has planned to launch in Switzerland in the third quarter of 2022, according to Reuters.

Launched in 2020, Alpian is reportedly the first licensed digital private bank in Switzerland. Alpian, in which Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo also has a stake, aims to have 5,000 customers by the end of 2022. The company is entering a market segment that has hardly been occupied so far, supposedly.

Traditional asset managers for millionaires and billionaires or banks like UBS and Credit Suisse usually provide their full range of services only to clients with several million dollars in assets. Retail banks or smartphone banks such as Revolut or N26 have only a limited and standardised offering. This also applies, for example, to the US robo-adviser Wealthfront, which UBS acquired in 2022, Reuters states.

The group was primarily targeting clients with liquid assets of CHF 100,000 to CHF 1 million (USD 108,000 to USD 1.08 million). The company would not disclose fees, but its CEO called them ‘significantly less’ than those of traditional private banks, according to Reuters.

Alpian has secured CHF 48 million in several rounds of financing so far. The firm, which also has offices in Rome and London, aims to employ around 100 people by the end of 2022, from just under 70 now. An initial public offering was not envisaged for now, but another round of financing was reportedly possible. Alpian wants to break even in 2025, Reuters concludes.