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We have for sure a very good setup now. We achieved an enormous amount in the past years. We have rebuilt and as an industry, we stand strongly.

Swiss banks are well capitalized. We have modern technologies, we keep investing and Switzerland is ahead of London and other hubs in terms of fintech. We have also come very far in developing the Blockchain. We have a government that is ready to deal with those topics together with the regulator Finma. We haven’t just bolstered our base, but also our thinking, approach to risk. Of course, many challenges remain.

Which targets are a priority?

We want and have to create conditions for the financial market which allow smaller and medium-sized banks to breathe. How can we help them survive the current setup of regulation and how can we preserve our diversity.

«The heterogeneity of our association is large enough as it is»

There has been a fair amount of criticism from the small and medium-sized companies leveled at the Bankers Association.

To a certain extent, this has been exaggerated, because polarization won’t help anybody. We have had extended negotiations with Finma in respect to the small-bank regime, with misunderstandings and lively discussions. We showed at all times to be right behind the smaller and medium-sized banks.

Shouldn’t you accept fintech firms into your fold?

The heterogeneity of our association is large enough as it is. If we started accepting fintech firms as well, this would become even more pronounced. We should however try to find out together with them, what they really need and transmit their needs to the government through our means.

Won’t banks have to radically change, faced by the inevitable rise of tech giants and fintech startups?

The phenomenon will certainly get even more pronounced. Each bank has to ask itself where and how it should become active and what it will outsource. Banks will absorb those innovations that are relevant to the customer. Other elements, such as technical procedures, they will tend to outsource. This change is underway and will lead to a further refinement of banking structures.

«Reliability, precision, trust, high quality of services and products, integrity, competence – the Swiss virtues»

Won’t digitization mean that services can be provided from anywhere in the world, rendering obsolete the uniqueness of Swiss banking?

Reliability, precision, trust, high quality of services and products, integrity, competence – these are Swiss virtues that are by no means a matter of course in other places. If you for instance want to open an account in the U.S. you still have to use pay-in slips. The internationality and quality of our financial market isn’t easily copied.

How will the work of a relationship manager change?

A successful banker will have to be very digital. He will have to be confident in that and know the opportunities and ease of communication that comes with digitization.

«Brexit won't help Switzerland»

A client nowadays compares his bank not only with other banks. He compares the services with those of providers such as Google and expects similar services from his bank. At the end of the day though he still will want to talk to a person he trusts and who gives advice.

Will Brexit help or damage the Swiss financial market?

It will certainly not be helpful. Our unique selling point as a third country has helped Switzerland in the past. But that’s gone after Brexit.

Now there is a further, very large third country. We are wrongly being put in the same basket and you can’t give something to one but not the other. Hence, Brexit hurts because we are being treated the same way, even though we share an entirely different history with the European Union than the U.K.

Not the best of situation given the tense relations between Switzerland and the EU.

Europe is an important market for us. And this is the same for most Swiss industries. We are a relatively small economy in the heart of Europe and ought not to shut the doors to Brussels. The framework agreement has become a prestige agreement and if we don’t manage to get it done, the EU will take an even tougher position in relation to us. For our industry, the recognition of the exchange equivalence is especially important.

Herbert J. Scheidt has been President of the Swiss Bankers Association for a year. He also has been chairman of Vontobel Group since 2011. From 2002 to 2011, Scheidt was CEO of Vontobel. Previously he worked in various positions for Deutsche Bank in Germany, New York, Miland and Geneva. Starting in 1996 through 2002, he was Deutsche Bank's head of private banking international based in Geneva.

Scheidt has a degree in economics from University of Sussex in England and an MBA from University of New York.

He also is member of the board of SIX Group and deputy chairman of Hero. Furthermore, he is member of the board of the German-Swiss chamber of commerce.