The state of play: a digitised financial centre without being a technological one

Read the PDF edition (2 pages)

The Geneva financial centre has never been a technological centre and will not become one. The Swiss fintech sector numbered 529 companies in 2025, 316 of them in Zurich and Zug, after a phase of rapid growth followed by consolidation. Geneva hosts a minority of them, concentrated on wealth management, crypto and digital assets and commodity trading.¹ Geneva’s banks buy their core systems from a few Swiss and international suppliers, outsource a growing share of their IT and adopt technologies once they are proven. This caution has a cost, that of lagging behind the centres that innovate. It also has an advantage, that of avoiding the expensive failures suffered by pioneers.

The digitalisation of the client relationship has advanced under pressure from clients and from the pandemic. Remote onboarding, electronic signatures, mobile applications, online portfolio reports and video conferencing have become the norm, including in the most traditional houses. Private wealth management nevertheless retains a human component that Part E described as the heart of the model: the wealthy client wants an adviser, and technology serves to make that adviser more efficient, better informed and more available. Independent asset managers, whose structure Part E described, depend for their part on platforms and custodians whose technological quality determines their competitiveness.

Commodity trading follows its own trajectory. The Geneva trading houses have invested heavily in data analysis, satellite imagery, forecasting models and the automation of operations, because their margin depends on information and speed. The financing and electronic document platforms, described in Chapter I of this Part, are progressing slowly. The analysis and hedging tools, by contrast, are among the most advanced in the financial centre. The Geneva trading cluster, examined in Part G, is thus more technological than its private banking, although this is not visible from the outside.

Key point. Geneva is a digitised financial centre without being a technological one: it buys its systems, outsources its IT and adopts proven technologies. Commodity trading is more advanced there than private banking in data analysis. This caution avoids the failures of the pioneers and accumulates a lag that the coming decade could make costly.

Notes

Chambers and Partners, Fintech 2026 – Switzerland, Trends and Developments, practiceguides.chambers.com (accessed September 2026). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

English

Contact

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

Get in touch →

The state of play: a digitised financial centre without being a technological one

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?