On 1 January 2019, the PostFinance e-sports team will enter the battle arena. The financial service provider is offering five young adults the chance to spend a year receiving professional guidance and playing the strategy game, “League of Legends” at the highest level in Europe. As such, PostFinance is launching an experimental format which will support its transformation into a digital powerhouse and leading digital bank in Switzerland.

E-sports are among the world’s fastest-growing sports and are now part of a billion dollar business. 100 million people play “League of Legends” worldwide every month and winners of international tournaments take home prize money in the millions. PostFinance wants to use a digital experiment to gain valuable experience in this exciting market, which remains a niche in Switzerland, and appeal to young, digitally adept customers.

Professional environment

As of 1 January 2019, PostFinance will be offering five young “League of Legends” players to start their careers as pro gamers thanks to the e-sports experiment. It will finance their lives for a whole year, including a monthly salary of 2,500 francs each. The players will live in a gaming house with a fully equipped training room and will be taken care of by a coach with international experience, as well as various advisors, in a professional environment. The aim is for the team to prove itself on the European stage and become the best of the best in Europe. The whole experiment will be documented and will show e-gamers how to progress from amateurs to professionals.

Anybody who is interested can apply for a spot on the team by 20 August 2018 via the website www.esportsexperiment.ch. PostFinance will be in partnership with MYI Entertainment, the leading e-sports and gaming agency in Switzerland, for this e-sports experiment.

The easiest way to manage money

During the 12 months, the athletes will not only be trained to become professional players, but will also have financial challenges to tackle. They will also create a budget together and keep track of their expenses. In this way the daily routines and training sessions will clearly show how easy it is to manage finances in the digital world and how PostFinance’s digital products and services can simplify everyday money management. 

Transformation into a digital powerhouse

Society – and with it the banking sector – is rapidly becoming more and more digital. This has fundamentally changed customers’ requirements and habits, and is a development that PostFinance cannot and does not wish to ignore. As a digital innovation leader in the Swiss banking world, it wants to take advantage of its strong starting position and transform itself from a traditional financial service provider into a digital powerhouse with the aim of becoming the leading digital bank in Switzerland by the end of 2020. In future, PostFinance will therefore gear its products and services even more towards the digital and mobile world and will support its customers along the way from traditional to digital banking.