You are forgetting that all these providers issue payment cards which charge a fee for each transaction from the retailer (Migros, Coop, etc). I would expect Neon, Alpian, Yuh, etc. to receive a share of this. If not, I don’t understand the business model behind these apps.
Free from the user’s point of view* does not always mean free for everyone involved.
*Of course, the user pays indirectly, as the retailer has priced it in.
Yes I didn’t consider payment card revenue because then the competition is with debit cards and most cantonal bank provide free debit cards. So any profit they can make with local transactions would be lower (or equal) cantonal banks
In order to build business , one needs to solve a problem. I feel most business models are revolving around user experience & ability to become a marketplace of stuff (discounts, subscriptions, offers)
After the failed launch of Raiffeisen’s new app, I hope they will have the foresight to offer an attractive deal to Neon and use Neon’s UI as the foundation for the new Raiffeisen App. In my opinion, this would be the best scenario for both Neon and Raiffeisen.
Zak will continue to exist as a low-cost entry-level product and a showcase for Banque Cler.
Alpian has no future. I give them until June 2026 before they disappear.
Yuh, on the other hand, is likely to keep growing.
Major players like Wise and Revolut will gain some market share in Switzerland, but I don’t see them building real trust as a current account solution. They lack a physical presence, which remains an important factor for Swiss customers.
PostFinance just recently announced that Yuh has reached profitability for what it’s worth:
With now over 300,000 users and customer assets of 3 billion CHF, Yuh is the number 1 Swiss financial app and continues to grow with a first reported profit of 1,700,000 CHF (as of the end of December 2024). The momentum is impressively evident in the comparison to the previous year: in 2024, the number of accounts rose by 48%, and customer assets doubled.
I would take it with a pinch of salt, because “profitability” in this setup mainly depends on how the costs for shared infrastructure are booked between the venture and the parent companies. However, I have no doubts that Yuh is here to stay.
There is an interesting article in today Le Temps about online banks/fintech.
Challenges, how to be profitable, how is it working in the UK when such fintechs are plentiful.
How many emails have we gotten about their 1% special offer if you park over 125’000 with them ?
2 things bother me:
Why would anyone park an amount over 100’000CHF with a bank whose future is uncertain? Anything above 100k is not insured.
Why do they pay interest on January 2nd ? All banks pay 31.12.
To me it just screams desperation; I’ll keep Alpian to change currency because they have the best conditions for that, but I definitely don’t feel comfortable having more than 1k there.
Banks hate this trick
What’s your benchmark? I assume IB has better conditions. But maybe Alpian has the best conditions among Swiss banks.
I think IB is not benchmark because they don’t allow forex unless you do that for investment on their platform. Forex only transactions lead to blacklisting
But yeah Alpian is good versus Swiss banks and also similar or better priced versus Wise.
Just came across an Alpian-sponsored collaboraton with SmartPurse, called SheWealth. Great networking for women with interest in investing. No product placement, so rather friendly and engaging.
The Alpian app can now manage recurring orders and got a facelift for the payment process.
ebill is still missing though. But definitely a good step towards a possible salary account.
My experience with Alpian has been so far quite positive.
USD transfers from US to Alpian (free)
Payments locally in CH were simple
Payments to Twint prepaid also simple
Customer service quite reachable
I use Alpian as a current account and forex payments (when Revolut limit is exhausted) and I am quite satisfied.
My experience with Alpian:
Small disclaimer, if I were to keep Alpian it would be as a replacement for neon, i.e. as a credit card for my international expenses. For day-to-day banking, I still use a traditional bank, but I’m looking for an alternative.
Positives:
Negative points:
I’ll keep the account for a few more months. If they implement the ability to extract bank data via a .csv file, I may use it instead of neon as for other currencies the Visa exchange rate is applied.
After a bit of testing it seem this is not quite ready yet: The QR scanner sets the date to the next banking day without the option to change it or the possibility to set it up as a recurring transfer.
Also, one cannot manually enter a QR IBAN as a recurring transfer.
I am thinking that for this use case maybe Radicant is even better? It has cheaper FX on the card, some free ATM withdrawals, eBills and interest on the regular account, but is lacking a joint account.
For investment I definitely like Alpian better.
Did you try it ?
