Nettobank, the new Swiss-based online private bank, has officially commenced its operations today, the bank said at a press conference this morning.

Based in Gossau, in the canton of St Gallen, the bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss private bank Wegelin & Co. Focusing on the internet exclusively, the bank will not offer personal advisory services to its clients, the bank said in a statement.

Nettobank added that private banking clients are increasingly willing to replace personal advice with an “effective and cost-efficient” online alternative.

As reported by WealthTechBriefing last week, the new bank will only serve the German-speaking Swiss market (more here).

Christian Hafner, president of the board and managing partner at Wegelin, said that Nettobank is particularly interesting for investors with an appetite for risk.

Prominent among Nettobank’s competitors is Swissquote, which also offers online private banking in Switzerland.

Today, Swissquote reported total net new monies of SFr353.9 million ($326.9 million) for the first quarter of 2010, up 21.8 per cent compared to the same period of 2008. Assets under custody reached SFr7 billion, an increase of 52.8 per cent compared to last year and 7.8 per cent compared to the last quarter.

At the same time, the bank's number of clients now stands at 149.277, up 19 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2009. Total net revenues were at SFr23.4 million, up 0.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Private banking, like other parts of the financial services industry, is increasingly reliant on the web and technology such as mobile devices (more here).