New legal status
As a public limited company, PostFinance remains under the ownership of Swiss Post, which in turn is owned by the Swiss Confederation. PostFinance continues to fulfil its universal service obligation with services in payment transactions. Its lending business remains subject to restrictions.
Since June 2013, PostFinance has been a public limited company under private law. The conversion was necessary to meet the requirements of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and to receive the banking licence. PostFinance Ltd remains wholly owned by Swiss Post Ltd, and its sole indirect owner is therefore still the Swiss Confederation.
Despite its new legal form, PostFinance continues to provide the universal service for payment transactions in accordance with the new Postal Services Act. PostFinance is the market leader for payments in Switzerland.
PostFinance continues to pursue a very cautious investment policy, investing the money entrusted to it prudently in long-term investments. There is a limited government guarantee for customer deposits until 30 September 2017. Beyond that, assets of up to 100,000 francs per customer are protected under the statutory depositor protection scheme, as is the case with other banks.
From a financial market regulatory standpoint, the banking licence allows PostFinance to offer the same services as the other banks. In the lending business, however, it continues to rely on partnerships with other financial institutions, because the postal legislation does not allow it to grant loans and mortgages to third parties independently. Nevertheless, around 2.6 million private customers and over 300,000 business customers in Switzerland entrust their money to PostFinance.
PostFinance will remain secure in future.
Hansruedi Köng,
Chief Executive Officer of PostFinance