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Alpian is launching a digital bank aimed at Switzerland’s ‘mass affluent’ population.
Today (6 May), Swiss fintech start-up Alpian announced that it has raised €11.5m in Series A funding for its new digital banking offering.
The start-up plans to use the funding to pursue a full banking licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), so that it can launch as a fully licensed digital bank in 2021.
Alpian said that it plans to attract the “mass affluent population” of Switzerland, which it describes as those with investible assets of between around €95,000 and €950,000.
The start-up claimed that existing retail and private banking providers “do not fully address” the fundamental needs of this segment of the population, according to market research.
Alpian’s offerings
Alpian’s offerings include tailored investment boutique products, secure digital face-to-face access to experienced financial advisers and simplified access to everyday banking services.
The company’s CEO, Schuyler Weiss, said: “With Alpian, we will introduce a new way for affluent clients to bank that is attuned to how they want to manage their wealth. Our approach is client-centric first and foremost, with technology and innovation underpinning everything we do.”
Weiss added that as the start-up develops its technology, it aims to scale operations while maintaining “exceptional service standards” for its clients.
“Securing the Series A funding is a testament to our business fundamentals and our ability to execute. Furthermore it is a big step towards reaching full technological and operational readiness over the coming months,” he said.
The start-up was incubated by Swiss banking group Reyl & Cie, which provided expertise in banking and wealth management to help the start-up compete on an equal footing with other established banks.
Reyl partner Pasha Bakhtiar said: “Alpian started as an incubation project at Reyl but we soon realised the full potential of this unique, groundbreaking value proposition. The fact that Alpian has secured such an impressive Series A round demonstrates the confidence investors also have in the blue ocean we have identified.”
