2023-09-10 10:04:34
The cantonal banks are fleecing us
Thanks to the end of negative rates last year, all cantonal banks posted a record profit – more than 2 billion francs – in the first half of 2023. However, customers hardly benefit from this, some deplore.
PublishedSeptember 10, 2023, 12:04 p.m.
BCV is in second place among the cantonal banks having reaped the best profits in the first half of 2023, with a profit of 240 million (+22% compared to the first half of 2022).
20min/Marvin Ancian
While Credit Suisse has foundered, the cantonal banks are doing better than ever, notes the “SonntagsZeitung” of the day. Thanks to the end of negative rates from the SNB Last year, two thirds of these 24 financial institutions recorded record profits: more than 2 billion Swiss francs. Compared to the first half of 2022, the Zurich Cantonal Bank, the largest, thus posted a profit increase of 25%, to more than 677 million. On the French side, BCV, in second place (see box), made a profit of 240 million (+22%). And the Ticino Banca Stato actually increased its profit by 160% (!), to 89 million.
2nd rank: BCV (profit 240 million, +22%)
6th rank: BCGE (profit 117 million, +49%)
8th rank: BCF (profit 91 million, +12%)
12th rank: BCBE (profit 76 million, +15%)
13th rank: BCVS (profit 6 million, +22%)
18th rank: BCN (profit 24 million, +20%)
22nd rank: BCJ (profit 10 million, +18%)
“Absurdly high” profits
The end of the negative rate phase a year ago by the National Bank (NBS) allowed banks to charge higher interest rates for loans or mortgages. But conversely, they have hardly benefited their customers by increasing interest rates on savings deposits (read box). “The banks are fleecing their customers,” says Sara Stalder, director of the Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, bluntly in the SonntagsZeitung. It is “unfair” that banks are making “absurdly high profits” but refusing to remove fees and raise interest rates. She demands a return to “a fairer situation for consumers”.
Concern for SMEs
On the business side, Fabio Regazzi, president of USAM and national advisor (The Center) believes that “it would be good for cantonal banks to be more understanding towards SMEs”. And that they examine whether they can reduce their margins, because “commerce and the middle class need more breathing space”.
Some cantonal banks still do not grant interest on payment accounts and even on savings accounts, the interest remains very low, for example at 0.75% the Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB), notes the ” SonntagsZeitung». Conversely, cantonal banks currently require an interest rate of almost 3% on ten-year mortgages. Rates that the Union of Swiss Cantonal Banks (UBCS) considers to be “in line with the market”.
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