A new digital bank aims to win a chunk of what it estimates to be 2.6 million affluent clients in Switzerland. Alpian CEO Schuyler Weiss details the Reyl-backed venture's plans for a banking license to finews.com.

Schuyler Weiss, Reyl has quietly been working on a digital bank – Alpian – for the last two years. What’s the idea behind it?

We found within the affluent segment a need for greater service and a new offering. Today, an affluent client has two options: a retail account that you may have had for years but that no longer suits you, or a private bank, where wealthier clients will be prioritized and where fees may be prohibitive. We want to drive a new offering around wealth beyond money, where the service for affluent clients is elevated but the fees are fair and transparent.

How will that work precisely?

An example - clients of Alpian can have virtual but personal conversations with our experienced advisors through our in-app video conference functionality. We will use our human and technical intelligence to help the client identify the best way to get from where they are today – perhaps they can’t yet afford, for example, a house – to tomorrow, where they’re able to afford it.

How big of an organization have you put in place to become a bank?

We have about 20 people here in Geneva. That does not include Alpian’s tech team. We have a number of people who are joining us in months to come.

What are the technology resources you are referring to?

We have a great partner in the U.K. completing Alpian’s technology development. Our market research tells us the affluent client is looking for additional services, personalization, and a genuine partner. The technology to facilitate that in a scalable way has only been made available in recent years.

How big does Alpian estimate the mass affluent market in Switzerland is?

According to our market research, there are 2.6 million people within the segment in Switzerland. So it is quite a sizable number, but it’s important to note that we're not going to exclude people. We define mass affluent as between 100,000 and 1 million liquid net worth. There’s no minimum to open an account at Alpian.

What products and services will Alpian offer?

We will offer a debit card, the ability to exchange between four different currencies, an impact program, and several investment services and products. One of the specific investment types we will offer is discretionary management.

«Reyl to oversee allocation of portfolios»

The tactical allocation for the discretionary portfolios will come from Reyl, giving clients access to a private banking service. This gives the client comfort that there's a professional looking at and managing their account, and that especially for people with little free time, they don’t have to spend their time thinking about the market.

What else?

We will also have a guided investment platform, which allows clients to make their own decisions, with advice from our team of professionals. While you may not speak to the same Alpian advisor every time, each interaction should improve the partnership between the client and Alpian.

When do you expect the license to be granted?

We are planning to launch in the second quarter of next year, but that is contingent on a license being granted. Finma is the only entity that can make the decision to grant a Swiss banking license.

All this costs a lot of money. Will you need more than the 12 million francs you raised earlier this year?

Building a bank is not cheap but we're well below the budget that we had for 2020. Going forward, we have put in place the steps necessary to achieve the goals that we set out for ourselves.

How has Covid affected Alpian?

The pandemic may trigger people to question how much they pay for banking services and how they should handle the market uncertainty. This is where Alpian can help.

«Fees will be transparent – and competitive»

The services that we will offer are meant to guide the client through both the good times and the bad, and the fees that we will charge are meant to be extremely transparent and competitive.

Why haven’t private banks discovered affluent clients as a lucrative segment?

I think part of the answer to that is, when you try and do too many things, you're not able to succeed at the thing that you are meant to focus on. That is why the decision was made for Reyl to incubate Alpian and make it a separate company, while maintaining a stake in Alpian. Alpian and Reyl should have their respective areas of focus, and the two shouldn't be mixed.

Reyl recently merged with Intesa’s private bank. What will that mean for Alpian?

We see it as an opportunity for how can we work with a great partner like Intesa. It would be illogical not to explore opportunities to work together.

Schuyler Weiss is the CEO of Alpian, a digital bank incubated by Swiss wealth manager Reyl. The 32-year-old Swiss-American began his career at IBM as a consultant to the financial services industry in New York. He worked for Morgan Stanley for three years before completing an MBA at IMD in Lausanne, then joining Reyl in 2018. Alpian was split out as a separate company in January.