Swissquote

Swissquote Group Holding Ltd

Type	Public limited company
Traded as	SIX Swiss Exchange: SQN
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	1999
Founders	Marc Bürki, (CEO), Paolo Buzzi, (CTO)
Headquarters	Gland, Switzerland
Number of employees	545 (August 2015)
Slogan	The Swiss leader in online banking
Website	www.swissquote.com

Swissquote Bank Ltd

Type	Public limited company
Traded as	SIX Swiss Exchange SQN
Industry	Banking
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Gland, Switzerland
Key people	Marc Bürki, (CEO), Paolo Buzzi, (CTO), Michael Ploog (CFO)
Revenue	74 million CHF (June 2015)
Total equity	255.8 million CHF(June 2015)
Slogan	The Swiss leader in online banking
Website	www.swissquote.com

Swissquote Group Holding SA ^[1] is a Swiss banking group specialising in the provision of online financial and trading services.
The Group's shares have been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker symbol “SQN” since 29 May 2000.^[2] The Group's headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland. The company also has offices in Zurich, Bern, Dubai, Malta, London and Hong Kong. The Group has 545 employees.

Areas of activity

Swissquote Bank SA, via its online financial platform and its analysis & selection tools, is active in trading in equities, funds, bonds, warrants, and options & 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 (eForex).^[3]

Corporate Structure

Swissquote Bank SA

Swissquote Bank SA holds a banking licence and is regulated by FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority . In addition to its head office in Gland, the bank also has offices in Zurich, Bern, Dubai and Hong Kong.

Swissquote Financial Services (Malta) Limited

Swissquote Financial Services, based in Malta, is an investment services company. It is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and holds a category 4a licence.^[4]

Swissquote Ltd (formerly MIG Capital (Europe) Limited)

Swissquote Ltd, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is an investment company based in London.^[5]

Swissquote Bank MEA Limited

Swissquote Bank MEA Ltd, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), possesses a category 4 licence.^[6]

Swissquote Asia Limited

Swissquote Asia Ltd, based in Hong Kong, is regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and holds a type 3 licence (Leverage Foreign Exchange Trading).^[7]

Product overview

Trading

Equities, bonds, funds, warrants, derivatives, options & futures, etc.
Currency trading
Forex^[8]
Commodities
Stock indices

Banking services

Savings accounts
Private pension accounts
Mortgages
Credit cards
Lombard loans

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.

The financial platform Swissquote was founded in 1996 (website: www.swissquote.ch). 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.

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, 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's decision to discontinue the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 CHF per euro, Swissquote set aside a reserve of 25 million Swiss francs without, however, compromising the profitability or the soundness of the bank.^[9]

Partnerships

Swissquote has been the official partner of the British football club Manchester United since 26 January 2015.^[10] At national level, Swissquote has also formed a partnership with PostFinance.^[11] The bank will become the trading platform for PostFinance clients in May 2016. Swissquote also forms a partnership with Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank for online mortgages.

Visual data

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.