Growth Obscures Profitability at Synthesis Bank

Stephen Harris

18 December 2006

Cash flow at Geneva-based Synthesis Bank doubled this year to SFr26 million, its customers have trebled and the volume of transactions doubled, along with the number of its staff which is now 70 strong, according to chief executive Charles-Henri Sabet. Synthesis Bank has abandoned its private banking and asset management roots, though, and instead concentrates on running TradingFloor, an online trading service powered by Denmark’s Saxo Bank. Synthesis also claims to be the only Swiss bank which doesn't charge a custody or management fee and says it offers the lowest equity and contract for differnce brokerage fees in Switzerland as its strategy is to build volume. According to Mr Sabet, a former world backgammon champion, this year's trading volume will be about SFr260 billion, with recent daily volume reaching SFr1.2 billion. The average volume per account is SFr60,000 and the average foreign exchange transaction is SFr350,000. Profitability was not mentioned by Mr Sabet although the bank, which was founded in 1999, had expected to break even last year.