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The digital revolution in banking is in full swing and Swissquote is one of the firms eager to exploit the opportunities presented. Chief Executive Marc Buerki sees a lot of potential for growth in Asia, he explained in an interview with finews.com.

The stock of Swissquote has had a torrid time since mid-2018. What happened and how did you fare this year so far?

If you look at the second half of 2018, you will see that apart from crypto trading, every business segment improved over the first half. We generated about 10 million Swiss francs from the trading of the five cryptocurrencies on our platform in 2018. Half of that was achieved in the first quarter. The slump in the value of bitcoin initiated some brisk trading and this explains the difference between the first and the second half. Forex trading, the business with interest and all the other business developed positively by contrast.

And what about this year?

We still have the previous year’s crypto trading figures on our books. Also, January and February were slightly slower. Since then, volatility has increased. The year is still young but we believe that the full year will be very good and that we will growth 5 to 10 percent despite the slowdown in crypto trading.

Swissquote has comparatively low fees for trading and portfolios – what's your secret?

We invest in our processes and try to automate everything we do. We will never be finished with this work, not least because we continuously introduce new services.

If you look at your past and your digital knowhow, you’d be tempted to say that Swissquote was an early fintech?

True. The spirit of a startup or a fintech is very much ours – we also have a lot of young members of staff.

«Switzerland may be crypto-friendly, but strong regulation makes the business complicated»

Are you a natural partner for today’s fintech community?

We try to lend our support to the fintech community as best as we can. But fintech in Switzerland hasn’t got such an easy job – it can be a little deceptive. Once you aim to make a business in banking, the hurdles are going up very quickly. You need a certain level of staff, capital, a license and the business model isn’t that simple either.

You allow the trading in cryptocurrencies over the platform. What do you expect from this business?

Crypto trading today makes up a small part of our revenue – about 2 percent this year. But you have to start somewhere. When we set out with the forex business, this was no different – at the beginning, it was tiny, today it makes up a substantial part of our business. You have to take risks and invest for the future!

In the crypto business, what is the biggest challenge?