2021

Crédit Mutuel Group today has a CET ratio of over 19%, making it one of the best capitalised banking groups in Europe, and Bank CIC (Switzerland) Ltd. is one of the fastest growing and most profitable regional banks in Switzerland. Bank CIC is small enough to react quickly and flexibly to changes in the banking industry; it belongs to a group that is keen to develop in Switzerland and willing to invest in the future.

This combination of different elements is characteristic of what we call “new Swiss banking”. We offer a regional presence in Switzerland, the international network of our Group and personal service to our clients with the latest automated and digital solutions. In us, user-friendliness and complexity come together to create individual solutions and we join up investments with lending, settlement and reporting to satisfy regulatory requirements and offer added value for clients.

2021 was the second year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was for this reason, and the fact that we focus on our clients, that we marked our anniversary in only a modest way. Nevertheless, we can look back on another record year which witnessed rigorous, reliable and skilled work and a broad economic recovery. The set-back Switzerland suffered in 2020 was more than made up in 2021.

For the first time total assets at Bank CIC exceeded CHF 13 billion and net new money again hit CHF 2 billion in 2021. These are outstanding figures, which testify to the confidence our clients place in our bank. Profitability too rose once again. Income was up in all key areas. The securities business in particular benefited from a positive market environment, an optimised product mix and a high level of client activity. At the same time, we continued to invest in additional staff and in the digital transformation of the Bank. An indication of our activity in this area is the fact that we opened a relationship with some 80,000 new clients, who are now also able to access the attractive solutions of the Crédit Mutuel Group across the border. Operating profit increased 7.6% to 52.6 million. The considerable rise in the allocation to the reserves for general banking risks demonstrates Bank CIC’s prudent risk policy and resulted in profit climbing CHF 1.6 million to CHF 35.7 million.

We would like to thank our employees most warmly for their extraordinary commitment under the difficult circumstances of COVID-19. So far they have managed to avoid anyone becoming infected within the Bank; by doing so, they have protected themselves and our clients and made a major contribution to the best result in the Bank’s 150-year history. Hearty congratulations on this achievement!

But it was you, our clients, who made the result possible in the first place. I would therefore like to thank each and every one of you for your trust, your loyalty and your support. I assure you that we will rise to the new challenges and continue to generate added value for you – be it by minimising risks, helping you seize opportunities or offering you innovative solutions tailored to your individual situation. We are your long-term partner for all matters of finance and will remain your flexible bank once more in 2022.

The focus this year will therefore be on issues such as rising consumer prices and the war in Ukraine. We believe that a large number of companies will abandon their presence in Russia in the light of the continuing war and persistently high commodity prices. Central banks will take the high prices and economic uncertainty into account in their strategy and raise interest rates more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may ease the cooling in investor sentiment and in turn slow the weakening of the economy. As trade with Russia is low, globally speaking, we think further-reaching risks in production and consumption are unlikely and that switching procurement to other markets may lead to strong short-term disruptions in industrial production in particular. We favour high-quality large caps with a strong international focus.

In the short term, the various uncertainties (war, central bank policy, economic performance, geopolitics) will lead to increased volatility. Defensive Swiss equities have proved to be a stabilising factor for the portfolio.

In the medium term, however, we do not believe that consumer prices in Switzerland will rise any further and we expect the geopolitical tensions to ease in the coming months. Investors will then concentrate on companies’ fundamentals again. Owing to the high weighting of defensive stocks in Switzerland, analysts nevertheless expect corporate profits to increase by just under 10% in 2022. For 2022, we expect the Swiss equity market to go up by between 5% and 8%, which is in line with the predicted increase in corporate profits.

In asset management, we are sticking to our long-term outlook and broad diversification across asset classes. Past experience has shown that setbacks triggered by geopolitical stress events are generally of limited duration when portfolios are well diversified. Selecting high-quality Swiss companies provides a degree of protection, even in times of crisis. We remain committed to individual stocks with strong fundamentals and have protected the portfolios selectively with hedging instruments.

We favour the following stocks and topics this year. Among defensives, we like Novartis, Zurich Insurance and Galenica. In cyclicals, we favour ABB, Holcim and Logitech, while AMS, Basilea and SoftwareOne are the small and mid-cap stocks we are backing.

With themes, we are very excited by developments in the food sector. In line with this, we would support the technologies of the future in this area. Food produced worldwide amounts to around 10% of global GDP. To produce this 10%, our food sector causes 26% of global emissions, employs one-third of all workers and uses half of the habitable land on the planet. This must and will change, providing corresponding investment opportunities.

Another topic that has gained impetus as a result of the most recent crisis is cyber security. We expect M&A activities in this area to increase. This and the rising security budget around the world will probably be the most important sources of growth for this theme. In addition, cyber security will be a key topic for governments and private companies. The sector has experienced a sharp upturn in recent years, and we expect this trend to continue.

Digital investment products

Benefits to the client are also what we focus on when it comes to investing. cleverinvest was launched at the end of 2021 and is revolutionising asset management. This is a digital solution that makes it simple and straightforward to build up assets. Opening the product takes 10 minutes. Just determine your risk appetite and capacity with a few simple questions and allocate the equity weighting within the investment strategy suggested to the most promising themes. For instance, you can invest in specific topics like Social Responsibility, Smart Cities and Millennials. The focus issues can be changed or adjusted using a handy drag and drop function. Investors no longer have anything to worry about, because their strategy is rigorously implemented by Bank CIC. At the same time they remain flexible and can access the money invested at any time. This makes cleverinvest an attractive alternative to a savings account. Investors can profit from above-average returns over the medium and longer term with an initial investment of CHF 1,000 and a standing order of at least CHF 50 per month.

Anyone who prefers to have an active dialogue with their community and take their own investment decisions based on recommendations should consider clevercircles. This is a digital investment platform where investors can assemble their own portfolio of ETFs and index funds, manage it professionally with an investment committee they put together themselves and benefit from access to market assessments from Bank CIC and a host of third parties.

We attempt to be one step ahead for our clients.

Digitalising and democratising the investment business, i.e. providing all clients with access to attractive investment solutions, is a key priority for Bank CIC. The Bank is investing steadily in this strategy for development.

Comprehensive digitalisation strategy

All digital offerings are available to all clients at any time and anywhere, both as an app and in the desktop variant. Unlike poorly regulated neo-banks, our digital achievements have stable roots in a “real” bank with many years of experience and the expertise needed to handle financial and client data. And the human factor always plays a key part, too. Digital systems cannot replace people. But they can save a great deal of work and time, minimise risks and errors and maximise quality and success.

Our holistic digitalisation strategy and precise management of interfaces mean Bank CIC is ideally placed for further technological developments. Our employees, however, remain crucial – they are the most important factor in our success. Together with our clients, we are keen to create sources of added value in partnership from the current position and the developments to come, by reacting rapidly and driving ahead the momentum of innovation.

More individual and more extensive, thanks to digitalisation

Lots of suppliers, plenty of costs and margins that are often under pressure: promotional gifts is a tough business to be in. Even so Alex de Geus, the founder of maxxpromo.ch, has spent half his life selling them. He is well aware of the opportunities digitalisation offers him and his company.

Shift from analogue to digital: it’s an idea entrepreneur Alex de Geus had been toying with for some time. A few years ago the time was finally right and the project got under way. Technical progress meant there were no longer any barriers to having a smart online store for promotional gifts. A European partner to do the programming was quickly found.

The launch of max x promo coincided with the global emergence of the pandemic. But the max x promo team were not distracted by the coronavirus and stuck to their plans: “If an online store isn’t successful now, when will it ever be?” Obstinacy and courage paid off: under the slogan “Inspiring. Simple. Quick.”, customers can browse in the store and let their imagination run wild. Finding out about prices, branding opportunities and delivery times is easy. Orders are placed online and go straight to maxxpromo.ch. This ensures speedy processing and delivery. The search function allows customers to find the article they are looking for in seconds. The searches carried out, orders and product information from suppliers indicate what is popular at any one time. The platform also gives the entrepreneur information on trends and requests for sustainability and generates hitlists. This allows Alex de Geus to target his range and focus on customer needs.

max x promo boasts of its user-friendliness and speed – two arguments where it beats traditional outlets. From choosing to viewing to the order process, everything runs directly through the online store. Customers can communicate in other ways if they need to: a telephone hotline, email advice and live chat are also available. The hybrid model has proven its worth. This dedicated entrepreneur from Basel would not like to be entirely without direct customer contact, as he explains:

It’s just like eLounge from Bank CIC: I let the customer chose the communication channel that suits them.

The benefits of the digital solution are obvious: orders can be placed any time, anywhere. This saves valuable time and minimises the administrative effort on both sides. All orders are managed in a dashboard, allowing the customer to see their entire history at any time. This is particularly useful for customers when they have a change of staff. The extended platform max x insight allows max x promo to offer a further innovative solution to large customers who need additional services. Shop-in-shop service, product design, on-demand products, procurement outsourcing and promotional gift management are all possible on the digital platform.

Behind max x promo and max x insights are a great deal of hard work and an entrepreneur who had the courage to open a new business at a time that was economically challenging – and put his heart and soul into it.