A Geneva-based private bank has outsourced the operation of its banking software to Swisscom. It is the first such deal that involved the handling of an Olympic-based system.
Millenium Banque Privée Suisse (BCP) in mid-June outsourced the operation of its banking software to telecommunications giant Swisscom, according to a statement released on Tuesday. The handing over was preceded by a 10-month project period.
A First for Swisscom
The deal is a first for Swisscom: BCP is the only one of its clients to operate on an Olympic core-banking system. The system was made by Eri Bancaire, a Geneva-based firm, that is present in Geneva, Zurich, Lugano, London, Luxembourg, Singapore and Paris and has some 300 clients worldwide. Swisscom in turn so far has 60 Swiss retail banks under contract, which all are operating on the system designed by either Avaloq or Finnova.
The communication giant, which is partly owned by the Swiss state, wants to sign more private banks. It currently does business with some 24 such firms, with Habib Bank, Banque Landolt & Cie as well as BCP the latest additions.
BCP a Late Arrival in Geneva
The private bank in many ways is atypical for the Geneva-based financial market, as it was founded as late as 2002 by Portugal’s big bank Banco Comercial Portuês. It has 82 members of staff in Geneva and manages assets totaling 3.5 billion Swiss francs ($3.68 billion).
The Chinese conglomerate Fosun owns a minority stake in the bank.
