The results of the Aduno Group, which is at the epicenter of a scandal involving Swiss bank Raiffeisen, were hit hard by special effects, undermining the comparability to last year's profits.
Zurich-based Aduno, the cashless payments specialist, triggered one of Switzerland's largest banking scandals when a complaint it lodged late last year against Pierin Vincenz led to the criminal investigation of the former star banker.
On Friday, Aduno said revenue last year slipped nearly 4 percent from the previous year to 459.6 million Swiss francs ($474 million), the company said Friday. The turnover decline however reflected a one-off gain in 2016 from the sale of its Visa Europe business.
Excluding the special effects, turnover last year rose 7.6 percent, it said. Operating profit also fell from 2016 last year – skewed by the Visa disposal – reaching 102.8 million francs, but posed a small gain when special effects are excluded. Net profit rose to 191.6 million francs from 118.5 million francs in 2016, it said.
Digital Transformation
Last year the payments unit was restructured, and with the sale of the sale of the acquiring und terminal to SIX payments arm, the unit will focus on the issuing business. Aduno has also taken a majority 70 percent stake in the Contovista concern and strengthened its position in the finance management and analytics areas.
Aduno is optimistic for the future given the favourable economic growth outlook, and the conditions are in place for a successful business year, it said. It is owned by the large Swiss cantonal and regional banks (Raiffeisen, all cantonal banks, Migros Bank, Bank Cler, and other regional as well as private and trading banks).
