Online bank Swissquote revised its profit outlook for 2017, having benefited from strong trading in cryptocurrencies. The company has been swamped with interest for bitcoin trading.
Gland-based Swissquote expects earnings to have totaled 186 million Swiss francs in 2018, 8 million more than it had forecast in its most recent forecast. The bank said it will post a pretax profit of about 45 million francs, according to a statement released today.
The «sharp rise» in earnings and profit growth was a result of two factors, Swissquote said. Customer traded significantly more with securities and foreign exchange, while the company also profited from the introduction of cryptocurrency trading. Swissquote was the first European online bank to launch such an offering in July, 2017.
Application Backlog
«Strong interest in cryptocurrency trading led to a flood of new account openings,» Swissquote said in the statement. «Several thousand account opening applications are currently being submitted every week.»
The company has to review the applications in keeping with its duties as a licensed bank, which takes time and has caused delays in the opening of accounts. Swissquote said it is working hard to clear the backlog.
Swissquote will publish its full report for the financial year 2017 on March 2.
