The Swiss private banking and corporate advisory business is pushing into the mass-affluent market, which in Switzerland collectively holds SFr660 billion of assets, covering 2.6 million people.

Geneva-based REYL Group has brought a digital wealth management platform – Alpian SA – to launch, funding the venture with SFr12.2 million ($12.5 million). It is targeting the tech-savvy SFr660 billion Swiss mass-affluent client market. 

Alpian SA has applied for an independent banking licence from FINMA, the Swiss regulator, and plans to be market-ready by the first quarter of 2021 once regulatory authorisations are granted.

Target clients typically will have investable assets ranging from SFr100,000 to SFr1 million, a segment covering more than 2.6 million people in Switzerland. 

Such a business move takes REYL Group from its existing focus on the high net worth and corporate advisory space, suggesting a new competition battle line in the Alpine state.

Mass-affluent customers are more likely than other population groups to use digital tools to conduct investments, transactions and other activities, REYL Group said in a statement about its venture.

“The REYL Group aims to combine effectively the advantages of an incumbent bank, able to convey trust, access to capital and extensive industry expertise, with the dynamism and fervour of a disruptive team of highly talented young professionals with an entrepreneurial spirit and strong expertise in the digital space,” it said.

REYL Group said the platform has been in the works for 18 months. The fundraising for the project was conducted in January this year, drawing in investors from the technology and financial services industry. The fundraising was oversubscribed, the firm said. 

In late December last year, REYL Group described how it had broken new ground in the corporate advisory space, working on a SFr29 million real estate deal. 

Last October, REYL Group overhauled its business lines into a single entity called Entrepreneurs and Family Office Services. Headed by Thomas Fontaine, and staffed by 20 personnel based in Geneva and Luxembourg, the new entity provides a single gateway for all the group’s business lines, including wealth management, corporate advisory and structuring, asset services and asset management. The one-stop service offers expertise in corporate banking, private banking, credit, wealth planning, legal advice and portfolio administration and management.