Swissquote Registers Record H1, 2018 Earnings Result on Back of Increased Client Activity

Swissquote, CEO Marc Bürki Swissquote Registers Record
Swissquote, CEO Marc Bürki

Swissquote (SWX: SQN), the online leader in banking service provider has continued with the strong business momentum in the first half of 2018. The strong financial result in the first half which reached records level was majorly driven by large numbers of new account opening in the cryptocurrency segment. 

In the first half of 2018, the operating revenue rose by 30 per cent year-on-year, coming in at CHF 118 million (USD $120 million). The net revenue during the period registered a notable increase of 21 per cent from the half of 2017, at CHF 112.8 million. The growth was dragged down due to two factors, first was  “unrealized fair value” item which resulted in the company losing CHF 1 million and secondly, due to “negative interest rates”, which cost the firm CHF 4.2 million.

The net profits during the six months period rose by 43.9 per cent to CHF 25.7 million, which is a record for the company. The eForex segment income posted a strong growth of 7.5 per cent, reaching a record high of CHF 35.1 million attributed to a 20.2 per cent rise in the trading volume to $594.4 billion. The Net trading income increased by 13.4 per cent to CHF 11.7 million based on currency trading and it excludes eForex trading income. Net fee and commission income increased by 42.8 per cent to CHF 55.6 million on a year-on-year basis. The firm’s cryptocurrency business fetched a total income of CHF 8 million during the period.

On the expenses part, the operating expenses for the company registered at CHF 82 million in the first half of the year which is 21.2 per cent higher than the previous year. The rise was largely driven by the increase in investment in technology, marketing and personnel. However, the company expects, the increase will be modest in the second half of the year. 

The company also achieved CHF 25.5 billion marks in client’s asset holding for the period ending on June 30, 2018, an increase of 20.6 per cent in client assets. During the period, the total number of clients also increased by 6.3 per cent to 322,032.

Swissquote issued a statement of the result mentioning exceptional performance in all of its four business unit. The company stated that the Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and blockchain technology will continue to be an important theme. For the whole year, Swissquote is expecting growth for both revenues and profit at a range of 10 per cent to 15 per cent. The company also said that the Robo-Advisory platform has been completely overhauled and will see cryptocurrencies to be added to the investment universe of Swissquote Robo-Advisory as a new asset class.