Newsletter 2013-01 (PDF) - PostFinance
Newsletter 2013-01 (PDF) - PostFinance
Newsletter 2013-01 (PDF) - PostFinance
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Dear Reader<br />
1 March <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
<strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong> is an eventful year. On 26 June,<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> will be demerged into<br />
a public limited company. As of the<br />
same date, it will be regulated by<br />
the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory<br />
Authority and granted a banking<br />
licence. This means that you<br />
can continue to rely on <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
as a solid partner.<br />
Over the past few years, <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
has grown into a leading Swiss retail<br />
financial institution. <strong>PostFinance</strong> has<br />
achieved solid profits in a difficult<br />
market environment with historically<br />
low interest rates. It has established<br />
itself as a reliable financial institution<br />
for both, private and business customers<br />
in the retail market and for<br />
major corporate customers.<br />
Its success is mainly due to its leading<br />
market position in Swiss payment<br />
transactions. <strong>PostFinance</strong> is constantly<br />
striving to develop and modernise<br />
payment transactions together<br />
with Switzerland’s major financial<br />
institutions. The introduction of new<br />
standards for European payment<br />
transactions is just one example.<br />
The aim is to achieve harmonisation<br />
in the light of increasing national<br />
and international regulatory requirements.<br />
A further step in this process<br />
is described in this newsletter.<br />
Best wishes and happy reading!<br />
Hansruedi Köng<br />
Head of <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
Page 3Annual results<br />
2<strong>01</strong>2: <strong>PostFinance</strong> well<br />
capitalized<br />
Page 4Payments in<br />
transition: The QR code<br />
is gaining acceptance<br />
News from <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
for financial institutions<br />
Page 5Outsourcing:<br />
Banks relying on Swiss<br />
Post specialists<br />
On the road to <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
On 26 June <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong>, <strong>PostFinance</strong> will be<br />
demerged into a public limited company<br />
owned by Swiss Post Ltd. As such, it will<br />
be fully regulated by the Swiss F inancial<br />
Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)<br />
and will be granted a banking licence in<br />
accordance with the Banking Act.<br />
New legal provisions<br />
The Swiss Parliament adopted the new<br />
postal legislation at the end of 2<strong>01</strong>0.<br />
The Federal Council has passed several<br />
resolutions bringing the new legislation<br />
into force and has made decisions<br />
regarding its implementation. Swiss<br />
Post should become more competitive<br />
in the liberalised environment provided<br />
by the new legal framework, ensuring<br />
that it can succeed in its different tasks<br />
covering the postal service, logistics,<br />
public passenger transport and the<br />
financial market. According to the new<br />
legislation, Swiss Post will be converted<br />
into a public limited company under<br />
special law and P ostFinance will be<br />
demerged into a public limited company<br />
under private law.<br />
The Swiss Post group will consist of the<br />
subsidiaries PostBus Ltd and Post CH Ltd<br />
alongside <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd. <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
Ltd will be owned by Swiss Post Ltd, and<br />
the Swiss Confederation will remain the<br />
owner of Swiss Post.<br />
The most important points at a glance<br />
The new legal framework will result in<br />
several changes for <strong>PostFinance</strong>:<br />
− <strong>PostFinance</strong> will be regulated by FINMA.<br />
In addition, <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd will be<br />
granted a licence by FINMA in accordance<br />
with the Swiss Banking Act on<br />
the demerger date.<br />
− To determine equity requirements,<br />
FINMA will allocate <strong>PostFinance</strong> to bank<br />
category 2 with other institutions<br />
such as the Raiffeisen Group and Zürcher<br />
Kantonalbank.<br />
− Once <strong>PostFinance</strong> has been demerged<br />
into a public limited company, a limited<br />
state guarantee of CHF 100,000<br />
per customer will apply for five years.<br />
This guarantee will be replaced by<br />
Swiss bank depositor protection of<br />
CHF 100,000 per customer.<br />
1
1 March <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
− Protection for products offered by <strong>PostFinance</strong> together<br />
with partners (vested benefits account and retirement savings<br />
account 3a) will not change as a result of the demerger.<br />
− Future reporting will comply with Swiss accounting standards<br />
for banks (BAG standard) and supplementary FINMA<br />
guidelines.<br />
− Even as a public limited company, <strong>PostFinance</strong> will pursue a<br />
conservative investment policy and guarantee risk tolerance in<br />
accordance with financial market requirements.<br />
− New provisions regarding investments made by major or<br />
institutional investors will apply to <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd from the<br />
demerger date.<br />
Basic service for payment transactions<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong>’s business activities are defined in the «Purpose»<br />
article of the Postal Organisation Act, according to which<br />
Swiss Post remains responsible for providing a basic service with<br />
regard to payment transactions. Swiss Post will delegate the<br />
provision of services to the future <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd. The Postal<br />
The future group structure of Swiss Post<br />
PostCom supervision<br />
FINMA supervision<br />
Prof. Dr Rolf Watter<br />
PostMail<br />
Swiss Post Ltd<br />
PostLogistics<br />
Management and<br />
service units<br />
Swiss Post<br />
Solutions<br />
Post Offices<br />
& Sales<br />
PostBus Ltd Post CH Ltd <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
Immobilien AG<br />
News from <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
Organisation Act defines the provision of the following<br />
financial services:<br />
− Payment services<br />
− Accepting customer deposits<br />
− Account services and other related services<br />
− Investments for own account<br />
− Other financial services on behalf of third parties<br />
− Under the new legislation, <strong>PostFinance</strong> will still not be<br />
able to issue its own loans and provide mortgages.<br />
It will continue to offer these products in cooperation<br />
with partners.<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> has made organisational changes in order to<br />
meet the new legal requirements. It modified its structure at<br />
the beginning of 2<strong>01</strong>2 in order to comply with the stricter<br />
requirements applicable in terms of corporate governance and<br />
regulation.<br />
FAQ about <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd can be found at postfinance.ch/ltd.<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd obtains rating<br />
from Standard & Poor’s<br />
The future <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
has obtained an AA from rating<br />
agency Standard & Poor’s<br />
(S&P). Meanwhile, Swiss Post<br />
Ltd has also been assigned<br />
a rating (AA+). When awarding<br />
its ratings, S&P takes into<br />
account different factors<br />
such as the general business<br />
position, capital resources and<br />
earnings as well as the risk,<br />
financing and liquidity situation.<br />
Issues such as the<br />
ownership structure and basic<br />
service mandate were also<br />
relevant. The rating shows<br />
that Post Finance will remain a<br />
solid, reliable financial institution<br />
after the demerger into a<br />
public limited company.<br />
The Board of Directors of <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
The Board of Directors of <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd was<br />
e lected in October 2<strong>01</strong>2. The seven-member Board<br />
of Directors will be chaired by business lawyer<br />
Prof. Dr Rolf Watter. He brings to the role extensive<br />
knowledge of corporate and securities law. His deputy<br />
is Dr Marco Durrer (Board of Directors of Swiss<br />
Post). Legal and compliance specialist Dr Michaela<br />
Troyanov, and Dr Patrick Frost, also with many years<br />
of management experience in the financial services<br />
industry, join the <strong>PostFinance</strong> Board of Directors. On<br />
the Swiss Post side, Adriano P. Vassalli was elected,<br />
together with CEO Susanne Ruoff and Head of<br />
Finance Pascal Koradi. The newly acquired expertise<br />
of the <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd Supervisory Board is already<br />
being put to use during the transition period.<br />
2
1 March <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> annual results 2<strong>01</strong>2<br />
Customer assets of over 100 billion francs<br />
111,000 new customers put their trust<br />
in the financial institution and opened<br />
213,000 new accounts last year. The<br />
total number of accounts at the end of<br />
December was therefore 4.55 million<br />
(+ 4.9 percent). The associated inflow of<br />
new money of about 12 billion francs<br />
increased customer assets to 104 billion<br />
francs (+ 12.6 percent).<br />
Last year, <strong>PostFinance</strong>’s earnings<br />
before taxes compared to the previous<br />
year increased by 40 million francs to<br />
631 million francs (+ 6.8 percent).<br />
The main reasons for the good results<br />
were interest income and reversals<br />
of previous years’ flat-rate writedowns<br />
amounting to 25 million francs. Onetime<br />
profit of 17 million francs from<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> key figures 2<strong>01</strong>2 2<strong>01</strong>1 Delta<br />
Annual earnings before taxes (CHF m)<br />
incl. associated companies (SIC, SECB)<br />
631 591 40<br />
Operating income (CHF m)<br />
1,534 1,474 60<br />
– Net interest income after writedowns<br />
1,062 1,024 38<br />
– Service and commission income 303 3<strong>01</strong> 2<br />
– Trading income 148 146 2<br />
Operating expenses (CHF m)<br />
– Staff costs<br />
– Material expenditure<br />
– depreciation<br />
Number of customers (reference date, thousands) 2,922 2,811 111<br />
Number of customer accounts (reference date, thousands) 4,549 4,336 213<br />
Customer assets (annual average, CHF m) 103,850 92,225 11,625<br />
Funds and securities (reference date, CHF m) 4,524 3,988 536<br />
Mortgages (reference date, CHF m) * 4,167 3,684 483<br />
Loans to business customers (reference date, CHF m) 6,514 6,842 –328<br />
E-finance users (reference date, thousands) 1,463 1,350 113<br />
Headcount (full-time equivalent, annual average) 3,473 3,422 51<br />
Millions of transactions processed (reference date, accumulated) 932 907 25<br />
* <strong>PostFinance</strong> offers mortgages through its partner banks.<br />
905<br />
471<br />
426<br />
8<br />
882<br />
446<br />
426<br />
10<br />
New <strong>PostFinance</strong> head office to<br />
open its doors in May <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> has been one of Switzerland’s<br />
biggest job creators for many<br />
years. Since 1998, the number of fulltime<br />
positions has risen from 1,602<br />
to over 3,400. The growth of the company’s<br />
workforce has also impacted<br />
on its space requirements. The majority<br />
of the 1,800 employees currently<br />
based in five different locations across<br />
Berne will be brought together in the<br />
new, modern head office building.<br />
The first employees will be relocating<br />
to the new 13-storey head office on<br />
Mingerstrasse in the north of Berne as<br />
of May <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong>.<br />
The 55-metre-high new head office,<br />
which will have capacity for 1,200<br />
employees and 15,000 m 2 of gross floor<br />
space, is one of the largest buildings<br />
in Berne, reflecting the company’s successful<br />
business development story.<br />
The building has been constructed in<br />
line with MINERGIE-ECO standards<br />
(minergie.ch).<br />
23<br />
25<br />
0<br />
–2<br />
News from <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
the cancellation of a financial investment<br />
also contributed to the results.<br />
Net interest income after writedowns<br />
increased by 38 to 1,062 million<br />
francs (+ 3.8 percent) in spite of the<br />
difficult financial market situation.<br />
At the same time, <strong>PostFinance</strong> benefited<br />
from current long-term investment<br />
income last year. Constantly falling<br />
interest margins will adversely affect<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong>’s results next year.<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> well capitalized<br />
As a public limited company,<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> needs to be funded with<br />
equity, the amount of which will be<br />
determined by the Capital Adequacy<br />
Ordinance (CAO). The same legal<br />
framework will apply as for banks.<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong>’s compliance will be monitored<br />
by FINMA. <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
will have equity of around 4.6 billion<br />
francs. Risk-weighted assets amount<br />
to around 24 billion francs. This gives<br />
a tier 1 equity share (hard equity)<br />
of over 19 %. For a category 2 bank,<br />
which is the category <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
will be allocated to, FINMA requires<br />
a tier 1 equity share of between<br />
13.6 % and 14.4 %. <strong>PostFinance</strong> Ltd<br />
will therefore be well capitalized.<br />
Right from the start, it will meet<br />
the strict equity require-ments set<br />
by Basel III and the new Capital<br />
Adequacy Ordinance – in terms of<br />
equity quantity and quality alike.<br />
Watch the new <strong>PostFinance</strong> head office<br />
being built on Minger strasse in Berne<br />
via webcam 1 and webcam 2.<br />
– http://w w w.bildersammlung.ch/<br />
bern-webcam-wetter-bern-5/ webcam.php<br />
– http://w w w.bildersammlung.ch/<br />
bern-webcam-wetter-bern-6/ webcam.php<br />
3
1 March <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
Payment transactions in transition<br />
The Swiss financial centre is<br />
harmonising payment transactions.<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> is working alongside banks on<br />
the future of Swiss payment transactions. Switzerland<br />
currently has two independent payment<br />
systems that are closely linked and allow<br />
smooth payment transactions: the <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
system and the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC)<br />
system. Until now, Switzerland’s high-quality<br />
dual system consisted of over ten standards<br />
and formats and seven different types of slip.<br />
As a result of increasing national and international<br />
regulatory requirements, these different<br />
standards and formats will no longer be<br />
developed in the long term. Instead, the aim<br />
is to achieve harmonisation.<br />
Harmonisation for transfers, debits and<br />
inpayment slips<br />
The areas of credit transfers, payment slips<br />
and direct debits were analysed in a study to<br />
explore the possibilities for harmonisation<br />
and alignment with European standards. The<br />
Swiss financial centre came to the conclusion<br />
that the Swiss transfer schemes should be<br />
The migration of payment transactions in Switzerland will form the basis for streamlined,<br />
uniform and cost-effective payment transaction processes.<br />
Imprint<br />
harmonised and substantially aligned to meet<br />
European standards. The area of direct debits,<br />
which currently consists of five schemes,<br />
will also be consolidated and aligned to SEPA<br />
standards.<br />
As far as inpayment slips are concerned, the<br />
existing documents will be combined and<br />
optimised. A new uniform slip will incorporate<br />
all the current advantages alongside additional<br />
functions such as the use of QR codes.<br />
Fewer errors thanks to the QR code<br />
Use of the QR code leads to a higher degree<br />
of automation during processing and an<br />
increase in the Straight Through Processing<br />
Rate (STP). There are many advantages to<br />
the QR code, not only for financial institutions<br />
but also for invoice issuers and payers.<br />
Harmonisation of Swiss payment transactions<br />
will form the basis for streamlined, uniform<br />
and cost-effective processes.<br />
“News from <strong>PostFinance</strong> for financial institutions”, Edition 1 / <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
Publisher: Swiss Post, <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
International Payments<br />
Nordring 8, CH-3030 Berne<br />
postfinance.ch / banks<br />
News from <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
The QR code is gaining<br />
acceptance<br />
The square matrix made up<br />
of black and white dots was<br />
developed in 1994 by the<br />
Japanese software company<br />
Denso Wave and was initially<br />
used in logistics by automobile<br />
manufacturers.<br />
Now the QR code is gaining<br />
acceptance – mostly thanks to<br />
applications on smart-phones.<br />
Its uses range from downloading<br />
software to accessing<br />
websites and identifying<br />
products.<br />
QR stands for Quick Response.<br />
Special markings in three of<br />
the four corners show which<br />
way up it goes. The number<br />
of points contained in the<br />
matrix is between 11 times<br />
11 and 177 times 177.<br />
When scanned, this QR code<br />
takes you to migration-pt.ch<br />
to find out more about<br />
slip migration in Switzerland.<br />
Edited by: Dominik Hölz, Relationship Manager<br />
Layout: <strong>PostFinance</strong>, Communications, Public Relations<br />
4
1 March <strong>2<strong>01</strong>3</strong><br />
News from <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
Outsourcing: Positive experience for banks<br />
The Glarner and Freiburger Kantonalbank<br />
have outsourced logistics and payment transactions<br />
to specialised units within Swiss Post.<br />
What has long been standard practice in<br />
industry is increasingly becoming applicable<br />
in the financial sector too. Parts of<br />
the value added chain that are not within<br />
banks’ own core competency are outsourced<br />
to specialists. This generates<br />
new cooperation and business models.<br />
According to many analyses and surveys,<br />
payment transaction processing is<br />
highly suited to outsourcing. Payment<br />
transactions in Switzerland are extremely<br />
standardised and the high transaction<br />
volumes allow considerable economies<br />
of scale.<br />
In addition to UBS and the Freiburger<br />
Kantonalbank, which have outsourced<br />
slip-related payment transactions to<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong>, Banque CIC,the Glarner<br />
and Tessiner Kantonalbank now entrust<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> with all their payment<br />
transaction processes.<br />
Investments quickly amortised<br />
“By outsourcing payment transactions<br />
we have been able to save approxi-<br />
mately 30 percent of our costs on a<br />
long-term basis,” declared Martin<br />
Dürst, Head of Finance and Logistics at<br />
the Glarner Kantonalbank (GLKB). Jean-<br />
Pierre Bruegger, Head of Payment<br />
Transactions at the Freiburger Kantonalbank<br />
(FKB) explained, “We chose to<br />
work with Swiss Post because it has<br />
intersectoral experience – and can take<br />
on overall logistics.”<br />
<strong>PostFinance</strong> has been carrying out payment<br />
transactions for the Glarner<br />
Kantonalbank since 2007. The manage-<br />
ment was surprised by the high cost<br />
savings and rapid investment payback<br />
of less than two years. The bank managed<br />
to keep within its budget for the<br />
project.<br />
Maintaining customer contact<br />
Glarner bankers did not have to give up<br />
their closeness to local customers on<br />
account of outsourcing. There is no<br />
direct customer contact involved in processing<br />
payment transaction documents.<br />
“Our customers do not even<br />
Your relationship managers at <strong>PostFinance</strong><br />
realise that their documents are sent<br />
directly to <strong>PostFinance</strong>”, commented<br />
Martin Dürst.<br />
“As much automation as possible”<br />
For the Freiburger Kantonalbank, the<br />
aim of working with Swiss Post specialists<br />
was not merely to replace its existing<br />
IT system. The bank was much more<br />
interested in achieving “as much automation<br />
as possible and gradually outsourcing<br />
optimised processes”, as<br />
described by Jean-Pierre Bruegger. Swiss<br />
Post Solutions has been responsible for<br />
printing and dispatch for the FKB for<br />
ten years already. It also took over scanning<br />
in 2<strong>01</strong>0. <strong>PostFinance</strong> now takes<br />
care of document-based payment transactions<br />
for the Freiburger Kantonalbank.<br />
The FKB’s initial doubts about<br />
data security and banking confidentiality<br />
were dispelled to the bank’s entire<br />
satisfaction.<br />
As usual, you can reach your personal contact via the contact details shown below. We look forward to hearing from you!<br />
Thomas Hadorn<br />
Head of Relations and Networks<br />
thomas.hadorn@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 53 80<br />
Marianne Zentriegen<br />
Germany, Austria<br />
marianne.zentriegen@<br />
postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 25 23<br />
Hye-Sook Jeon<br />
Great Britain, Asia Pacific,<br />
North America<br />
hye-sook.jeon@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 28 59<br />
Nuno Domingos<br />
France, Portugal, Spain, Central<br />
and South America<br />
nuno.domingos@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 07 02<br />
Corinne Heiniger<br />
Italy<br />
corinne.heiniger@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 85 92<br />
Dominik Hölz<br />
Scandinavia, Benelux, Baltic<br />
Countries, Russian Federation<br />
dominik.hoelz@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 02 87<br />
Bang Fernandez Nguyen<br />
Africa, Eastern Europe<br />
bang.fernandez@postfinance.ch<br />
Phone +41 58 338 59 68<br />
5