Industrializing Swiss Private Banks: A Strategic Road Map

This paper analyzes the industrialization processes of Swiss private banks against the background of strategic approaches, future trends, and potential risks in this sector. Overall, industrialization is identified as the basis for the successful implementation of innovative and disruptive services and technology, and banks’ collaboration with (external) service providers is likely to play an increasingly important role with regard to such implementation. Strategic conclusions for Swiss private banks are captured in 10 distinct recommendations that each bank should consider when planning its industrialization strategy. Hereby, three principal themes are covered—namely, the strategic positioning of private banks with regard to bank size, business model, and other factors; optimized operations, which deals with the question of how to increase the efficiency of internal processes; and ways to reduce the obstacles that private banks face with regard to successful outsourcing. The underlying strategic requirements are a holistic approach to strategy and an ongoing improvement culture.