Descartes Finance, a Swiss digital wealth manager, is moving into the business with private pensions.
Descartes Finance is expanding is portfolio of services, launching a digital securities solution for the business with private pensions (so-called third-pillar savings), it said in on Tuesday. The platform may later also become available for further pension savings solutions (second-pillar savings).
Descartes relies on three partners for the service. Lienhardt & Partner private bank is the custodian bank, the portfolios underlying the offering are provided by OLZ asset manager from Bern, and the electronic onboarding uses the signature solution designed by Skribble, a Zurich-based startup.
Similar Moves by Rival Robo-Advisers
Clients are now able to open an account via an app installed on their smartphones. Once they’ve sign up, they can then opt for a strategy and adapt subsequently, for instance to in- or decrease the ratio of equities in the portfolio. The startup founded by ex-banker Adriano Lucatelli is helping clients decide with a yield calculator.
Descartes is launching the product in a year that has seen the demise of several robo-advisers. The remaining providers all seem to opt for private pension services as an alternative, with Selma Finance for instance teaming up with VZ banking group. The product they are offering will be made available to clients of Neon, one of the fledgling smartphone banks.
Huge Asset Volumes Up for Taking
The business as such is lucrative, with some 120 billion Swiss francs deposited in third-pillar solutions. Third-pillar savings are tax-exempt and therefore highly attractive for taxpayers in Switzerland.
