Switzerbank attracts considerable interest

The small revolution in the private banking sector is attracting considerable attention: Clients have the option to choose their own investment advisor on the basis of web-based video profiles.

Private bankers’ charm offensive

This new way of finding an advisor has even come to the attention of Switzerland’s popular TV news magazine 10vor10 (some 500,000 viewers). On March 18, Stefan Klapproth presented a six-minute feature on «the private bankers’ charm offensive».

New client contacts for investment advisors

In the first few months since going online, our Internet portal has generated some encouraging and interesting results.

300 prospects per profile per month 

The website is visited by more than 5,000 Internet users from Switzerland and abroad every month. On average, each investment advisor’s profile received some 300 visitors per month. Over 50% of all visitors also watch the video.

Foreign languages as a competitive advantage

Our search portal is especially suited to investment advisors with specific language skills: They can be found by investors with the corresponding mother tongue at the click of a mouse, after which the investors then have the chance to listen to the advisor speak this language during the video interview.

Matching on the basis of common interests

In many cases even «sympathy-based» matching bears its fruit. In the example outlined to the right, the fact that Ms. Ormuz described herself in her profile as an expert on and fan of Portugal was a decisive factor in the investor contacting her.

Top search criteria: language, gender and age

When searching for a suitable investment advisor, the user can specify up to 20 different characteristics. The language skill, gender and age of the investment advisor are by far the most important criteria for users. Ranking not far behind are the location and the type of bank or company.

Innovations in the private banking sector

The young Geneva consultancy, Arvetica SA, specializes in innovative strategies for private banks. The five partners convince through their interesting combination of academic background (two PhDs), practical experience in the private banking sector (three former employees of Pictet & Cie.) and innovative solutions (e.g. web-based video blogs).

Video interviews with private banking experts

CEOs of private banks (including Sarasin, Clariden Leu, Maerki Baumann, Bank Frey) or private banking experts (e.g. Swiss Banking Institute) are interviewed on the subject of private banking innovations in Internet videos.

PrivateBankingInnovation.com: Internet blog with Videos

Key success factor: the personal relationship

Switzerbank.com was developed for the growing segment of private banking clients, for whom top performance, attractive terms and the perfect handling of transactions are considered a matter of course and largely interchangeable when it comes to selecting a new bank or asset manager.

Banking and investment products interchangeable

From these clients’ viewpoint, the client advisor’s personality is what makes all the difference: What kind of support does my personal client advisor offer me? How proactive and reliable is his information? Is he able to offer me any rewarding added benefit beyond simply reporting figures? Does he listen to me? Are we on the same wavelength? Do I like spending time with him? 

ISB Swiss Banking Institute of the University of Zurich

Video statements take the business world by storm

Since 2006, more than 50% of all Swiss private households have their own broadband Internet connection. This means it is possible to watch short videos online. Following the breakthrough of private DIY videos on YouTube.com and similar platforms, Internet videos are now gaining a foothold in the business world.

Good business videos share the following three key features:

Rule 1: Short and to the point

The videos should never be much more than two minutes long and must contain a high density of relevant statements. The web surfer is even more fickle than the TV viewer and will zap to the next site at the slightest sign of boredom.

Rule 2: Interactive

Perhaps the greatest difference between the Internet and television is the fact that the Internet is interactive. The Internet user is not prepared to consume longer sequences passively. He wants to be actively involved. Internet videos should therefore display a small table of contents that enables the user to skip back and forth between the individual sequences of a video. 

Rule 3: Professionally produced

The user expects professionally produced videos in the business arena. Any layman can tell whether a video was recorded with a handy-cam or using high-quality cameras, microphones and spotlights. Besides the equipment, the camera work, editing and scripting of the video have to be professional, too.

Outlook: Private Banking Summit 2008

The annual Euroforum Private Banking Summit–probably the largest international private banking conference in Switzerland–will take place in Zurich from September 2 through 4.

Presentation of Switzerbank.com

Under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Teodore Cocca from the Swiss Banking Institute, such eminent speakers as Dr. Eugen Haltiner (Swiss Federal Banking Commission), Raoul Weil (UBS) and Joachim H. Strähle (Sarasin) will be addressing the topic of «Navigating through turbulent times». Happily, Switzerbank.com has also been invited to present its new service during the event.

Agenda (PDF)