Swiss private banks lagging behind in digitisation, study shows

The aim of the survey was to measure the extent to which Swiss private banks are digitising their offerings and using digital channels to advertise their own products. The study concluded that local Swiss private banks are lagging behind universal and neo-banks when it comes to digitisation. According to the report, 30% of the 29 banks surveyed do not offer their customers any mobile applications and the private banks are reluctant to use digital channels for marketing. The companies that do offer mobile applications concentrate on general functions such as portfolio advice, access to financial publications and secure messaging.

Additional functions which private banks do not make use of include focus on payment applications, trading functions or access to a robo-advisor. The report also states that Swiss private banks attach comparatively little importance to digital media marketing and tend to prefer display advertising. The opposite is the case with universal banks and digital banks, who mainly invest in search engine optimisation (SEO) to advertise their products.