Swissquote Group Holding SA is a Swiss banking group specialising in providing online financial and trading services. The Group's shares have been listed on the

SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other security (finance), securities such as Swiss government bonds and d ...

under the ticker symbol “SQN” since 29 May 2000. The Group's headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland. The Group has 1040 employees as of December 2022.

Areas of activity

Swissquote Bank SA allows private persons to trade equities, funds, bonds, warrants, options and futures. The bank also offers services designed specifically for asset managers and corporate clients. In addition, the bank offers an electronic asset management tool, ePrivate Banking, as well as traditional banking services, including mortgages, savings accounts and more specialised transactions, such as currency trading (forex) and cryptocurrencies (35 pairs as of December 2022).

History

In 1990, Marc Bürki and Paolo Buzzi set up Marvel Communication SA. This company, which specialised in financial software applications, was the forerunner of what was to later become Swissquote.

Foundation and going public

The financial platform Swissquote was founded in 1996. It enables private investors to access the prices of all the securities traded on the Swiss exchange free of charge and in real time. On 29 May 2000, Swissquote shares were floated on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company obtained its banking license in the same year.

Acquisitions

In 2010, two acquisitions enabled Swissquote to consolidate its position as a leader in online trading. In June the company took over the Zurich-based company Tradejet AG, an online information platform and broker, and then took over ACM Advanced Currency Markets AG in October. The latter acquisition meant that the company's trading business then included online Forex dealing. In September 2013, Swissquote secured a place in the international market by acquiring and merging with

MIG Bank Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

, a company specialising in Forex. This acquisition propelled Swissquote, which aspired to become a major player in the currency market, into the top ten online currency trading service providers. In January 2015, following the

Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...

's decision to discontinue the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 CHF per

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, Swissquote set aside a reserve of 25 million Swiss francs without, however, compromising the profitability or the soundness of the bank. In August 2018, Swissquote acquired the Luxembourg-based Internaxx Bank SA to gain unrestricted access to the European market. Following regulatory approval by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...

and the CSSF in Luxembourg, the company was renamed Swissquote Bank Europe SA and is now a fully owned entity of the Swissquote Group.

Partnerships

Swissquote has been the official partner of the British football club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

since 26 January 2015. At national level, Swissquote has also formed a partnership with

PostFinance PostFinance is the financial services unit of Swiss Post which was founded in 1906. It is the fifth largest retail financial institution in Switzerland. Its main area of activity is in the national and international payments and a smaller but gro ...

. Swissquote also forms a partnership with the

Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank is a Swiss cantonal bank which is part of the 24 cantonal banks serving Switzerland's 26 cantons. Founded in 1864, Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank in 2014 had 23 branches across Switzerland with 636 employee ...

for online mortgages.

References

{{Authority control Canton of Vaud Banks established in 2000 Financial services companies of Switzerland Companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange