Georg Schubiger, head of private banking at Vontobel, is tired of hearing complaints about the difficulties of the Swiss financial market. And, in an interview with finews.asia, he offers the journalist a place on a trip to New York without a pilot.

Georg Schubiger, how important is digital banking for Bank Vontobel?

Digitization improves the quality of advice and helps us export financial services at a very low price. That way we can work without a costly, full banking license and without developing an IT infrastructure in the individual target markets.

Take the example of our mobile-private-banking-app: we launched the application in just two months in 20 countries. And today, it is available globally.

«Asian and other customers want to have assets in Switzerland, not least for diversification purposes»

Assets are being booked in Switzerland, investment products and research – the intellectual work – are generated in Switzerland. We export the product of the intellectual effort through our app to the target markets, with due consideration to the country-specific restrictions.

This may be more expensive than if we decided to outsource to cheaper countries. But we are nevertheless convinced that Switzerland is the right place for us to produce.

Are the clients ready to pay a surplus?

Asian and other customers want to have assets in Switzerland, not least for diversification purposes. The Swiss financial market is still in great shape. We have highly qualified staff with a unique expertise and experience in wealth management.

«The business with Asian customers is profitable»

Those factors are what we should focus on in Switzerland instead of constantly complaining that everything is getting more difficult. I honestly can’t understand the pessimism in respect to our financial market – and sometimes it annoys me even.

Vontobel is a rather small bank in Asia, if you consider the amount of assets you manage.

We want to be a niche player, specialized in diversified asset management – and not simply another provider of trading or other retail services. Our customer book in Asia is mainly one with discretionary mandates. We don’t however give figures for the regions.

Is your business in Asia profitable?

The business with Asian customers is profitable. We have a very lean set-up in place.

Several private banks provide their advisers with the help of a robo-adviser. What about you?

Depends on what you mean by robo-adviser. It is already eight years ago that we built a platform with similar services for advisers and customers as the ones provided by UBS Advice. But we didn’t make a fuss about it at the time.

«I don't believe in a world without human contact»

Clients are able to use the service via their mobile devices as well. More than half of our customers have signed up to such contracts and are using the app regularly.

Do you think that the robo-adviser one day will replace the human adviser?

I can’t imagine this to happen. The human factor becomes more important the more complex the composition of a customer’s assets is. The degree of digitization rises the more straight-forward assets of a client are. But even with highly standardized investment solutions humans will never entirely disappear.

Why?

I don’t believe in a world without human contact, especially in sensitive areas such as health and wealth planning.

«Want me to book a place for you?»

We still want to be advised by a doctor, lawyer or banker rather than by a robot. In these areas you require a sense of empathy and a stabile bond of trust between client and adviser.

Is is difficult to digitize trust?

Indeed it is. I will give you an example: nowadays, it is technically possible to operate a flight between Zurich and New York without a pilot. Want me to book a place for you?

Is it a maiden trip?

Yes.

Rather not.

See, but perhaps you would join for the tenth or 100th trip. It takes a while for humans to gain trust in a new technology. Which is why it is so important for financial-services companies to gather experience with new technologies from early on.

Will margins narrow due to digitization?

No, but it will improve the services to customers. The level of fees charged is a competitive issue and will be decided by the market.

Georg Schubiger has been head of private banking at Zurich-based Bank Vontobel since August 2012. After his studies at University of St. Gallen and at the College of Europe in Bruges, he joined McKinsey in 1996, working in the Zurich and Helsinki offices. In 2002, Schubiger joined Finland’s Sampo Group and in 2008 switched to Danske Bank, where he was a member of the executive board in the position of Chief Operating Officer.