We talk to a firm that goes deep into the challenges that banks face around onboarding, risk management, operational efficiency and speed of action. The Swiss business was founded less than a quarter of a decade ago, and already boasts a suite of Swiss and other countries' banks on its client list.

A Geneva-headquartered firm, SpeciTec – founded 22 years ago to solve private bank’s operational challenges – is seeing continued business growth.

Due to open a Zurich office in March this year, and adding to a footprint that includes Singapore, the firm is one of those businesses that looks closely at the trends shaping wealth management. Employing 60 people worldwide, it operates in Geneva, Singapore, Miami and Dubai. (SpeciTec is also a sponsor for the Thirteenth European Swiss Awards 2026, due to be announced on 5 February in Geneva.)

A host of challenges such as long onboarding times and banks’ fee compression are the sort of tasks Franck Oliger (main picture), SpeciTec CEO and senior partner, is familiar with.

“Our differentiation is that we focus on end-to-end operational execution in areas where private banks suffer the most friction – credit processes, risk monitoring, and client lifecycle governance and digitalisation – while integrating with core banking rather than trying to replace it,” Oliger told this publication. “We are not a generic workflow tool, and we are not a core banking system. We build specialised platforms that sit on top of the core to accelerate execution, strengthen controls, and reduce operational risk.”

SpeciTec was founded in Geneva in 2004 by Philip Smith to solve private banks' operational bottlenecks, such as Lombard credit processes and client lifecycle governance. Today, it has a list of clients including: Citigroup; BNP Paribas; EFG International; Union Bancaire Privée; Reyl; BCGE; Piguet & Galland; BCV; Hyposwiss Private Bank; CBH; and Banque Eric Sturdza.

Oliger, who brings more than 15 years of experience in technology to the role, has served in senior positions across engineering, consulting, and executive leadership. He holds a master’s degree in computer science, specialised in finance, from the Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard. 

How it started
“SpeciTec did not initially start with credit or compliance, but with MIS (management information systems). The original objective was to give bank management clear, near real-time visibility into key figures, with the ability to drill down into each metric.

“This allowed management teams to quickly understand whether their numbers were performing well, where results were coming from, and which teams or activities were driving them.

“At a time when data was fragmented, often delayed, and difficult to explain, this level of transparency became a powerful management tool. That focus on visibility, data ownership, and operational drill-down naturally led SpeciTec to later address more complex areas such as credit, risk, and process governance,” Oliger continued. 

Geographic coverage, growth
SpeciTec serves private banks across Switzerland, Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, with growth strongest in the latter two main regions. 

“Looking ahead, we expect continued strong demand from North America, as private banks and wealth managers scale their securities-based lending and cross-border activities and seek more industrialised, auditable operating models,” Oliger continued. “In APAC, Hong Kong and Taiwan stand out as key growth markets, supported by sustained wealth creation, regional connectivity, and a strong appetite for platforms that combine execution speed with robust risk and control frameworks.”

Management-owned
SpeciTec is owned by its managers and, to date, it hasn’t been backed by external investors.

Much has changed in this firm’s history since its launch in 2004. 

Back then, many private banks were still heavily dependent on manual workflows and controls.

“The main issues were fragmented data, paper-based approvals, inconsistent risk oversight, and a lack of real-time visibility for MIS, credit and compliance,” Oliger said. 

These days, the most urgent challenges are speed and transparency in decision-making without sacrificing quality control, consistent monitoring and early warning – especially for Lombard [lending] and concentrated exposures – reducing onboarding times while meeting stricter expected compliance, end-to-end auditability and traceability, intergenerational wealth transfer, sustainability investing solutions, cybersecurity, and margin compression.

When it comes to what “success” looks like for clients, Oliger and colleagues will measure the time it takes to make credit decisions and how long to onboard a client; cutting manual steps and operational incidents; faster remediation; better monitoring coverage; and audit readiness and traceability. 

As far as business performance goes, SpeciTec knows its work is heading in the right direction if businesses enjoy revenue growth and recurring revenue quality, new client wins and expansion within existing clients, and predictable delivery and implementation timelines.

Other metrics of success will include net promotor scores and client feedback indicators such as references and renewals, and product adoption across teams and business entities.

“If clients run faster with better control and less operational burden, we win. Everything else follows,” Oliger said. 

WealthBriefing asked Oliger where he sees the private banking industry going in the right direction, and what needs to improve. On the positive side, he said firms recognise that onboarding friction is a strategic limit on growth; they are investing in better data governance and controls, and banks are exploiting digital client interaction models.

On the “could do better” side, however, firms must cut onboarding times without creating a parallel compliance bureaucracy; they must make credit operations more measurable and industrialise them, particularly on the Lombard lending side, and they should turn the monitoring function into a “proactive early warning, not a periodic checklist.”

WB asked Oliger about the firm’s partners: Canon, Microsoft, Dell, Temenos, Moxo and Indigita, among others.

“We work with a structured partner ecosystem covering core banking platforms, enterprise technology, data and compliance intelligence, secure client interaction, and advisory. 

“This includes core banking partners such as Temenos, enterprise technology providers like Microsoft, data and regulatory intelligence partners including Dow Jones and Polixis, digital client interaction platforms such as Unblu and Moxo, and advisory partners such as Alpha FMC.

“This approach allows us to stay focused on building specialised private banking platforms while relying on best-in-class partners across the broader ecosystem,” he said.