Swissquote, Switzerland’s online financial trading firm which also offers services for wealth managers, has acquired Tradejet, the Swiss trading platform which was founded in 2004 and has Börse Stuttgart Holding as its controlling shareholder.

As of 31 July, Tradejet’s platform will merge with Swissquote and will then stop operating independently.

The deal can be seen as part of a trend whereby private banking, like other parts of the financial services industry, is increasingly reliant on the web and even the most venerable and traditionally-minded institutions are investing heavily in expanding their internet capabilities. 

In another related development, Swissquote’s competitor Nettobank, a new Swiss-based online private bank wholly-owned by Swiss private bank Wegelin & Co, officially commenced its operations today (more here).

After the merger of Tradejet and Swissquote, employees of Tradejet will be offered similar jobs at Swissquote, the firm said in a statement.

The firms did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.

Tradejet will add about 3,200 clients and SFr200 million (about $173 million) of assets to Swissquote's around 150,000 clients and about SFr7 billion in client assets.