«Asian people have more respect and appreciation for entrepreneurs than the Swiss,» says Claude Baumann, founder of finews.asia in an interview with financial website fundplat.com. «Our Asian business partners are impressed by our performance.»
Claude Baumann, you took the step to Asia in early 2016 with finews.asia. How are you doing there?
We are very pleased with the development as far as it is possible to say today. The interest in finews.asia is enormous. We are profiting from the fact that we have successfully operated finews.ch for almost ten years. Our Asian business partners are very impressed by our performance.
Also, Asian people have much more respect and appreciation for entrepreneurs and their performance than the Swiss. Of course, to develop something in Asia is no walk in the park. You need a lot of discipline, persistence and patience. But if you act professionally, you will be rewarded.
Tom King, Managing Director finews.asia, Claude Baumann, Ivan Schultheiss, Sales & Marketing Director finews.asia (from left)
What’s so different about Asia?
The dynamic and digitization. In Swiss banking, the overall mood is rather pessimistic and there’s a general sense of concern prevailing. In Asia by contrast the signs are on growth and there’s a spirit of optimism. Of course, they also have their economic downturns and crises. But in the long run, with growth of the population and the accumulation of wealth that goes hand in hand with it, there are phantastic perspectives.
«A rolling stone gathers no moss»
So far, we’ve only scratched the surface. Singapore is the international fintech center of Asia with a focus on digitization. And because of the size of the market, the speed of scaling innovation and turning it into profit is much greater. We are active witnesses to a hugely fascinating development from very close up.
finews.ch the Swiss financial news portal that you co-founded and lead as editor in chief has found its place in the media market. Where do you see further growth potential?
A rolling stone gathers no moss. Seriously, as a businessman yourself, you know that one teeters between the euphoria of new ideas and the angst that everything will collapse for an untold reason. Reality will turn out to lie somewhere between the two, more often than not in green, i.e. in positive territory.
«The reason why we are doing so well is our focus on one industry»
So yes, we keep growing, on the one hand because there’s a steady flow of new readers interested in the financial market and also, on the other, because we have substantially expanded our editorial coverage and become more professional still – with exclusive interviews, analyses, features, TV coverage and a steadily expanding offering of English-language stories on finews.com.
How are you managing with steadily eroding advertising budgets?
Very well so far because we aren’t affected. On the contrary, we will have record sales this year. That much is already clear. The reason why we are doing so well is our focus on one industry. If you want to address the financial market in Switzerland, we are your ideal partner.
Claude Baumann in Frankfurt, Germany
«What we do is actually pretty straightforward and quickly explained»
This may sound a little assuming, but it is a fact. The specialization acts as a guarantee for our advertising customers that their publicity on finews.ch will suffer from no spreading loss. You are reaching employees in the financial market – to 100 percent.
Do you think that your business model will be the same in a year’s time?
Yes, I think so, because we’ve been profitable for several years now. We don’t have to reinvent ourselves constantly. What we do is pretty straightforward and quickly explained. But of course, it is important to do it professionally and base it on proper knowledge.
We strive to improve continuously, for instance in multi-media or through partnerships with other companies, for instance in luxury goods, which is highly important in Asia. And that’s exactly why this work is so attractive!
Claude Baumann is the founder of finews.ch and finews.asia based in Singapore. He also co-founded the Swiss publishers Nagel & Kimche and launched the international business travel magazine «Arrivals». He’s the author of several best-selling books on Swiss banking. (Interview by Thomas J. Caduff)
