In the year under review 2018, Swiss Post achieved good results in many units. However, at 405 million francs, Group profit was down 122 million francs year-on-year. In particular, the difficult operating framework at PostFinance and the settlement for repayments following the events at PostBus contributed to the lower result. At 501 million francs, operating profit (EBIT) was 217 million lower than in the previous year. This confirmed Swiss Post’s expectations.

With the Valuu app, PostFinance has launched the first fully digital mortgage brokerage platform. It provides users with easy, fast access to a suitable mortgage from various providers, regardless of time or location – whether it be a new purchase or replacement.

The interest statements for the year 2018 have been available to download in e-finance under “Documents” since 3 January.

Swiss Post achieved good results in many units again in the third quarter of 2018. At 317 million francs, Group profit, however, was down 186 million francs year-on-year, confirming Swiss Post’s forecasts. The difficult operating framework at PostFinance and corrections at PostBus are the main factors which continue to impact Group figures. This is also reflected in the operating profit (EBIT) of 384 million francs.

The Competition Commission (COMCO) has launched an investigation in which PostFinance is also involved. PostFinance is cooperating with the competition authority to clarify the matter.

PostFinance Ltd’s Board of Directors has appointed Isabella Stalder as the new Head of Internal Auditing at PostFinance. She will take up her position on 1 February 2019 and succeeds Robert Thommen, who is retiring.

The extraordinary PostFinance Ltd General Meeting has elected Giulia Fitzpatrick and Jürg Brun, both of whom were nominated by the Swiss Post Ltd Board of Directors, as new members of the PostFinance Ltd Board of Directors. They succeed Susanne Ruoff and Adriano P. Vassalli, who have left the Board.

PostFinance has set up a virtual assistant on its website – the first Swiss financial institution to do so. It automatically and quickly answers questions that customers frequently ask whilst maintaining the same level of quality. The virtual assistant has also recently learned French. PostFinance worked together with the IT service provider, ELCA, for the development of the chatbot.

PostFinance is operating in a challenging economic and regulatory environment. As interest rates have been low or even negative for years, its interest margin is being eroded. One reason for this is the Postal Services Organization Act, which prevents PostFinance from issuing its own loans and mortgages. The policy decision made by the Federal Council on 5 September 2018 will not affect this situation for the time being. PostFinance will therefore introduce industry-standard prices for certain products and services which no longer cover costs from 1 January 2019.

On Saturday 15 September 2018, some Postomats retained the PostFinance Cards of certain customers due to a technical error. This error has been resolved. Customers will automatically receive a new PostFinance Card free of charge by Tuesday, 25 September at the latest. Customers who have incurred additional costs can get in touch with the Contact Center on 0848 888 710. We apologize for any inconvenience.

At the Swiss WCM Summit held on 28 August 2018 in Zurich, the Supply Chain Finance Lab at the University of St. Gallen and PostFinance presented the findings of their latest study on the trend topic of supply chain finance. This is currently a key issue for many CEOs and CFOs. It is clear that innovative solutions for financing the supply chain are available, and Swiss companies also believe they offer potential. They are nevertheless still lagging behind when it comes to using them.

PostFinance generated earnings before tax (EBT) of 125 million francs in the first half of 2018. That is 247 million francs less than in the first six months of the previous year. This decline was mainly due to a significant drop in income from the interest differential business and to a one-off item in the previous year. This negative development is in line with expectations created by the persistently low interest rates on the money and capital markets, and the trend is set to continue.