Swiss banking is looking for ways to defend itself against the onslaught from big tech. Citi's local boss Kristine Braden told finews.com-TV how.
Kristine Braden is Swiss banking's highest-ranking woman, but the American banker is virtually unknown outside of finance circles. She has been boss of Citi's bank in Switzerland for nearly three years, and since then has become somewhat of an insider thanks to her lobbying efforts for the alpine nation's finance industry.
Her advice for Switzerland? Adjust to the borderless digital reality that its customers want, and venture out. «The things that used to make Switzerland competitive will change in the future,» Braden told finews.com-TV. «Switzerland used to have a lot of customers coming into the country. Now, Switzerland needs to go out.»
Braden, who spent 11 years in Asia for the U.S. banks, urged Switzerland to arm itself as tech giants like Google, Apple, and Facebook encroach into banking space.
First Female Board Member
«The financial services industry here in Switzerland has to be ready to defend itself against but also to find new ways to collaborate,» she said. «One thing that is changing in the financial services industry is we used to just compete, but since its such a fast-moving environment, you have to collaborate.»
She is the Swiss Bankers Association first female board member – and its first American, and she is also deputy head of the Foreign Banks in Switzerland, a group which represents the interests of firms including HSBC, Deutsche Bank, J. Safra Sarasin. Citi's private bank manages 26.6 billion Swiss francs in Switzerland, making it one of the larger foreign firms here.
Not Very Relevant Anymore
Braden is also the local head of Advance, which seeks to advance women in management. Switzerland is notoriously far behind the U.S. and the U.K., and ranks 26th on «The Economist» Glass Ceiling Index, just before Turkey and Japan.
«If there’s one thing that has to change to keep Switzerland competitive, it is diversity in its management, because in this new economy we absolutely need diversity of thought,» she said. «The old ways of doing business may just not be very relevant anymore.»
Swiss banking suffers from a dearth of women in key roles, something banks such as UBS and Credit Suisse have vowed to change, either with informal quotas or programs to kickstart careers after time out for family.
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