Last year, PostFinance’s earnings before taxes compared to the previous year increased by 40 million francs to 631 million francs (+ 6.8 percent). The main reasons for the good results were interest income and reversals of previous years’ flat-rate writedowns amounting to 25 million francs. One-time profit of 17 million francs from the cancellation of a financial investment also contributed to the results. Net interest income after writedowns increased by 38 to 1,062 million francs (+ 3.8 percent) in spite of the difficult financial market situation. At the same time, PostFinance  benefited from current long-term investment income last year. Constantly falling interest margins will adversely affect PostFinance’s results next year.

Trust in PostFinance

111,000 new customers put their trust in the financial institution and opened 213,000 new accounts last year. The total number of accounts at the end of December was therefore 4.55 million (+ 4.9 percent). The associated inflow of new money of about 12 billion francs increased customer assets to 104 billion francs (+ 12.6 percent).

Becoming a public limited company

Parliament decided in 2010 that PostFinance was to become a public limited company (Ltd) regulated by FINMA. In December 2012, it ruled in favour of granting PostFinance a banking licence under specified conditions, thereby certifying that PostFinance will qualify to be treated as a bank. The reorganisation of PostFinance into a public limited company (Ltd) under private law is to be executed by decision of the Federal Council. It is expected to be implemented as of 26 June 2013 (with retroactive effect to 1 January 2013). PostFinance Ltd will be owned entirely by Swiss Post Ltd.

PostFinance well capitalized

As a public limited company, PostFinance needs to be funded with equity, the amount of which will be determined by the Capital Adequacy Ordinance (CAO). The same legal framework will apply as for banks. PostFinance’s compliance will be monitored by FINMA. PostFinance Ltd will have equity of around 4.6 billion francs. Risk-weighted assets amount to around 24 billion francs. This gives a tier 1 equity share (hard equity) of over 19%. For a category 2 bank, which is the category PostFinance Ltd will be allocated to, FINMA requires a tier 1 equity share of between 13.6% and 14.4%. PostFinance Ltd will therefore be well capitalized. Right from the start, it will meet the strict equity requirements set by Basel III and the new Capital Adequacy Ordinance – in terms of equity quantity and quality alike.