Schweizerische Nationalbank : Banks in Switzerland 2019

Press release

Communications

P.O. Box, CH-8022 Zurich Telephone [phone]

Zurich, 25 June 2020

Banks in Switzerland 2019

The Swiss National Bank has today published its reportBanks in Switzerland 2019and the corresponding data for itsannual banking statistics.1The most important figures are summarised below.

KEY FIGURES FOR 2019

2019

2018I

Year-on-year change

Number of banks	246	248	-2
Result of the period (aggregated profit/loss, in CHF millions)	752	11 512	-10 761
Aggregated profit (in CHF millions)	13 072	12 769	+303
Aggregated loss (in CHF millions)	12 320	1 256	+11 064
Number of staff (in full-time equivalents)	106 084	107 388	-1.2%
Balance sheet total (in CHF millions)	3 317 638	3 225 003	+2.9%
Domestic mortgage loans (in CHF millions)	1 042 641	1 010 168	+3.2%
Customer deposits (in CHF millions)	1 815 284	1 810485	+0.3%
Fiduciary transactions (in CHF millions)	196 988	160 039	+23.1%
Securities holdings in bank custody accountsII(in CHF millions)	6 780 092	5 849 280	+15.9%

I

Revisions may result in deviations from the figures published in the previous year.

II Customer custody accounts held at bank offices in Switzerland. Securities held by branches abroad are not included.

1The figures inBanks in Switzerlandare based on data in banks' (parent companies') individual financial statements, as required by law.

The reporting entity 'parent company' includes bank offices in Switzerland and legally dependent branches abroad.

Banks' consolidated financial statements, by contrast, also include business conducted by their legally independent subsidiaries in Switzerland and in other countries (banks and non-banks); transactions between entities that are legally independent but belong to the same group are consolidated in the consolidated financial statements. There may be deviations between the data at parent company and group level, particularly in the case of the big banks.

Press release

Overview

As at the end of 2019, there were 246 banks in Switzerland. Of this number, 216 reported a profit with an aggregate total of CHF 13.1 billion. Losses amounting to CHF 12.3 billion were recorded by 30 banks. The aggregate result of the period across all banks was thus CHF 0.8 billion, a decrease of CHF 10.8 billion over 2018.

Although the big banks reported profits at the consolidated group level2, based on the parent company financial statements used in this publication3they posted an aggregate loss of CHF 5.6 billion. This was largely attributable to one big bank having changed its valuation principles in respect of participations in other group companies. This resulted in high value adjustments in the parent company financial statements, but not in the group financial statements. All other bank categories posted an aggregate profit totalling CHF 6.3 billion, with the cantonal banks accounting for around half this figure.

The aggregate balance sheet total for all banks in Switzerland rose by 2.9% or CHF 92.6 billion to CHF 3,317.6 billion. While the stock exchange banks (CHF -5.0 billion or -2.2%) and private bankers (CHF -0.6 billion or -9.0%) reported lower balance sheet totals, all the other bank categories registered increases in this respect, in particular the cantonal banks (CHF 26.4 billion or 4.4%), Raiffeisen banks (CHF 23.0 billion or 10.2%) and big banks (CHF 19.9 billion or 1.3%). The rise in domestic mortgage loans continued (up CHF 32.5 billion or 3.2% to CHF 1,042.6 billion), with a strong increase in the case of the cantonal banks (up CHF 15.7 billion or 4.2%). On the liabilities side, customer deposits rose slightly overall (by CHF 4.8 billion or 0.3% to CHF 1,815.3 billion).

Customer holdings of securities in bank custody accounts increased by 15.9% to CHF 6,780.1 billion, with stocks higher in all securities categories. Stocks of equities showed the biggest rise, up 23.5% to CHF 2,717.0 billion, with the marked rise in share prices in Switzerland and abroad in 2019 being a significant contributory factor in this regard. Fiduciary funds administered by banks were considerably higher in 2019 and closed the year at CHF 197.0 billion, an increase of 23.1% or CHF 36.9 billion. In particular, there was a pronounced rise of CHF 15.7 billion in fiduciary deposits invested in Swiss francs, increasing that currency's share from 2.5% to 10.0%.

In terms of full-time equivalents, the number of staff declined by 1,304 to 106,084 (-1,130 in Switzerland, -175 abroad). The bulk of this drop is attributable to big banks having transferred staff to other group entities not included in the banking statistics. Staff numbers rose in the case of cantonal banks (by 228) and other banking institutions (by 194), while declines were registered by the foreign-controlled banks (-244) and stock exchange banks (-151).

• 2In theFinancial Stability Reportpublished by the SNB on 18 June 2020, the big banks are covered from the perspective of the respective group.

• 3Cf. footnote 1.

Press release

Further information

−The reportBanks in Switzerland 2019(English, German and French), which features extensive commentaries, can be downloaded atwww.snb.ch,Statistics, Reports and press releases, Banks in Switzerland, as can theOverview of reporting banks in Switzerland 2019/2020.

−Data (charts and tables), methodological basis and notes are available on the SNB's data portal atdata.snb.ch.