The Genevan bank launched a digital platform for mass affluent clients. Reyl won outside funding for the push.

Reyl is starting Alpian, an online platform for the affluent, widely viewed as those with less than $1 million.  The Genevan wealth manager said it estimates 2.6 million potential clients in Switzerland with 660 billion Swiss francs ($680 billion) in assets to bank.

The bank said it intends to combine qualities of traditional wealth management – trust, access to capital, industry expertise – with the disruptive, entrepreneurial mind-set of a digital start-up. Alpian applied for its own Swiss banking license recently and wants to be market-ready by the first quarter of 2021, pending regulatory approval.

Super-Rich vs Merely Affluent

Alpian raised 12.2 million francs in January, mainly from financial and technology investors, Reyl said. CEO Francois Reyl said he believes Alpian «will provide mass-affluent clients with a far superior level of service and greater flexibility than currently exists on the market.»

Many Swiss wealth managers have shifted in recent years to focus heavily on the super-rich – often at the expense of the affluent segment. UBS sifted its affluent Europeans into a digital-focused service last year. 

Credit Suisse and Vontobel, however, are expanding the lucrative segment. For Reyl, the move represents a further honing of strategy after it sold its asset management unit and began devoting itself more intensely to digital initiatives.