UBS's expanded digital offering is in the home stretch and is taking a different approach from its competitors.
Having already bundled its mortgage brokerage business on its Key4 platform, UBS will be adding additional services as Switzerland boss Sabine Keller-Busse (pictured below) told the newspaper «Tages-Anzeiger» (behind paywall, in German), thereby confirming media reports about UBS securing branding rights.
Among the new brands that UBS applied for were «UBS Key4 banking», «UBS Key4 wealth», and «UBS Key4 business», which have been registered and are now legally protected product names of the bank, as finews.com reported last week.
By the end of the month, UBS will offer digital-savvy customers payment and savings accounts as well as cards via Key4, with further plans for an instant loan and pension solutions.
(Image: UBS)
Product Differentiation
Key4 will not be a separate app in the future, unlike competing products like Revolut or CSX from local rival Credit Suisse. Instead, UBS is aiming for a purely digital product line within its mobile banking framework.
According to its own figures, more than half of UBS's private clients in Switzerland now use mobile banking, and the bank can use this volume as leverage for its new offering.
Trimming the Branches
According to CEO Ralph Hamers, digitization will be accelerated on UBS's home turf, and the Key4 expansion can be seen as a further step in this direction. UBS's quarterly figures suggest that Hamers is currently on the right track for the time being, and by significantly reducing its branch network and expanding the digital channel, it was able to significantly reduce expenses in Switzerland.
