Mr. Bonaita, you come from consulting for the financial industry. How did the idea come about to build Alpian as a new bank? Banks, after all, have been disappearing rather than emerging...

As someone said once: why was a new bank needed in Switzerland? (laughs)? The company was founded in October 2019. The thinking had started earlier, with REYL as the incubating bank. The key observation: quality banking services are in demand, but access to them has been getting harder – in Switzerland in particular.

What did the thinking look like before the company was founded?

Between 2017 and 2019 we translated the concept into a business plan. The research led us to a segment the industry calls affluent. We prefer to describe it as people who at some point in their lives start to have something aside and wonder what to do with it, but rarely get an answer. Depending on the study, that is 30 to 40 percent of the Swiss adult population. Traditional private banking is not accessible to them. It is written nowhere, but below a million in total assets you are at the very bottom of the range. And yet you still have to look after your money.

How long did it take from the first application to the license?

Around 24 months. We submitted our papers at the beginning of April 2020. We had the license in full force at the end of May 2022. In parallel we built the bank: technology, processes, organization.

Is it fair to say Alpian was born as a digital sandbox of the private bank REYL?

I see it differently. REYL targeted high net worth and ultra high net worth clients, largely international ones. We focused on the affluent segment. We were conceived inside the bank, but then spun off from REYL, because the business model was different and we needed more latitude for technology and infrastructure. As a unit inside the existing bank it would have been difficult to develop an end-to-end value proposition. But we took a lot from where we came from, especially the wealth management offering and experience. Unlike at our incubating bank, everyday banking is far more present with us – and so is technology, with our mobile app.

«Clients need to be able to act autonomously, at 2 a.m. or at 5 p.m., with all the information they need – and still always reach a person.»

What is your core banking system?

Temenos. We have also always invested heavily in our own technology. Just under half our employees are software engineers. We built a platform that integrates various third parties. That is a key differentiator in the market and part of the DNA of the bank.

Besides the banking license, what were the other building blocks for Alpian?

Two of them I would mention. The first is the role of humans. In 2019, remember, we were in the era before Covid, and even then we said: although we are mobile-only, we want experts available to clients for their wealth and financial questions. Those subjects are emotional and can be complex. That does not mean clients want to speak to a person for every single action. They also need to be able to act autonomously, at 2 a.m. or at 5 p.m., with all the information they need – and still always reach a person. For us those were always professionals speaking the main languages of Switzerland plus English.

And the second one?

An offering that covers wealth management and everyday banking at the same time. Our affluent clients use everyday banking daily and know it best. Our wealth management covers needs that often had no answer before.

How has the offering developed since you went to market?

We worked to become the primary banking relationship of our clients. That is why we invested in everyday banking, to offer all the day-to-day services a Swiss bank needs; we finish that with the launch of Twint in early December 2026. In wealth management we started with a discretionary mandate at 30,000 francs, then came an advisory offering at 10,000 francs, later an ETF savings plan as a further discretionary mandate at 2,000 francs. Over the past twelve months we have entered the pensions market, starting with Pillar 3a retirement savings.

«We had to show the Intesa Sanpaolo group that our value proposition had value and found traction in the market.»

Since this summer we have expanded the offering to include vested benefits. Our ambition has always been to be both our clients' main bank and their bank for financial advice. The pension products are an important building block of that offering. One of the simplest and most important questions usually goes unanswered: how much money will I have at retirement? We don't only want to be the bank where you get your salary, pay your bills and hold your 3a savings. We want to help you understand your financial situation as a whole and prepare for your goals.

For now you only have clients with Swiss domicile?

Physical persons paying taxes in Switzerland. We don't do corporates.

Is internationalization an issue?

We are still in an assessment phase, but, ultimately, yes: we want to open our banking platform to non-Swiss tax residents.

After REYL was sold to Intesa Sanpaolo: was it easy to convince the new shareholder to keep Alpian going?

We had to show the group that our value proposition had value and found traction in the market. At the same time, Fideuram, the wealth management and private banking division of Intesa Sanpaolo, has made digital wealth management a priority – in the previous business plan as well as in the current one for 2026 to 2029. After Fideuram's first investment in Alpian we launched a joint project and developed digital wealth management use cases out of our own experience. It is a B2B line with around 35 employees, first for Italy, then for Luxembourg and Belgium, where it went live at the end of last year. So the need was mutual.

What are you providing to Fideuram concretely? Technology, user experience, investment know-how in the affluent segment?

User experience, product and technology development, usually for mobile journeys. In Italy we built the digital onboarding journey via the app as well as CRM capabilities for the front office teams in the Direct Bank Unit. Luxembourg and Belgium are more comprehensive: there we developed the mobile app and the technology around onboarding, investment, and remote advisory. That is not a banking activity, we develop technology, solutions and products. As a bank, Alpian is present only in the Swiss market.

Read on the next page: how Gianmarco Bonaita reads Revolut's push toward a Swiss banking license – and what Alpian's majority shareholder expects of its financial results.