About Bonhôte & Cie Bank
Founded over 200 years ago in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Bonhôte & Cie is a bank that has never lost sight of the interests of the people it serves. Established in 1815 to meet the needs of local watchmakers and winegrowers, it now supports a diverse client base across Switzerland and around the world, with a particular focus on Southern Africa. Over the years, the bank has evolved as have its board and clients, but the team of more than 100 employees remains committed to the values that have shaped Bonhôte’s success: providing clients with exceptional service and helping them enjoy the meaningful moments life has to offer.
Bonhôte & Cie, a Business Model built around Client Service
As Bonhôte’s clientele evolved, the bank developed a business model designed to meet the needs of its diverse range of customers. In addition to traditional banking services, Bonhôte is well known for its various investment funds such as Bonhôte Immobilier.
For professionals, the “bankers since 1815” also act as a trusted partner, offering Independent Asset Managers, Family Offices and Institutions the full range of services expected from a custodian bank combined with a personalized approach that allow them to focus on their core business. Through this approach, Bonhôte leverages the know-how of these professionals to, together, better serve end clients, wherever they are.
As client profiles and expectations have changed, so has the way they do business given the acceleration of digitalization in the past decade. While Bonhôte implemented a core banking system a long time ago, recent challenges prompted the bank to look for a more advanced solution for its e-banking needs – and led to the selection of WIZE as its new transactional e-banking platform.
The Challenge: Digitalization serving people
The financial industry has changed significantly, particularly with the introduction of new FINMA regulations, making it more challenging for market players to identify and implement the right tools. Finding a solution that can empower the organization and improve client service has become a key priority.
Bonhôte & Cie had previously implemented an e-banking solution that allowed both end clients and professionals to view their portfolios. Professional clients, such as Independent Asset Managers for example, had access to daily updated positions and transactions from the previous day.
Understanding the importance of this evolution and mindful of its professional clientele, Bonhôte chose to focus on a provider with proven expertise in Portfolio Management System (PMS).
This solution was starting to show its limitations, and we decided to look for a new one to improve both our services and our digital offering.
Claude Suter, Chief Client Officer, Bonhôte & Cie
WIZE is a PMS that comes from the private banking world, developed with a mindset focused on serving private clients through asset management. We immediately realized the quality of the product.
Claude Suter, Chief Client Officer, Bonhôte & Cie
Step by step, the Bonhôte and WIZE teams built a strong partnership that led to the creation of a transactional e-banking platform. It enables bankers to work with greater efficiency and accuracy, while allowing professional clients to act quickly whenever needed.
The benefits: Efficiency and precision
The implementation of the WIZE system significantly improved the team’s daily workflow. Going a step further, Bonhôte also decided to adopt the FIX protocol, taking advantage of WIZE’s recognized expertise in automated orders transmission. Although typically reserved for larger institutions, Bonhôte saw its potential as a true game changer, and that’s exactly what it became.
This partnership now allows Bonhôte to offer Independent Asset Managers fast, secure, and internationally compliant order transmission through WIZE’s transactional e-banking platform.
Thanks to WIZE and the certification in place, Independent Asset Managers can transmit orders directly through the WIZE platform. The Bonhôte team can then easily and securely review and validate them before they are sent directly to the exchange.
Furthermore, the system allows all orders, grouped or individual, to be executed simultaneously, ensuring compliance with international best practices and avoiding deviations due to market fluctuations.
These improvements have significantly reduced the manual workload for Bonhôte’s teams, allowing them to focus on delivering secure and high-quality service to their clients.
We listen to our clients’ needs and are proud to have expanded our service offering thanks to WIZE.
Claude Suter, Chief Client Officer, Bonhôte & Cie
Looking ahead: client-centric and future-focused
Bonhôte intends to continue embracing digital transformation, with the clear objective of further improving the services it provides. To that end, the bank is considering extending access to the new WIZE e-banking platform to a broader group of users, offering an even richer digital client experience.
In the same spirit of collaboration that led Bonhôte and WIZE to implement the e-banking platform, the bank also plans to work with Independent Asset Managers to adopt WIZE as a shared Portfolio Management System.
What we did with WIZE is an example of digital transformation that meets the expectations of our clients which enables us to reinforce our relationships with them.
Valérie Uyttebroeck, Head of Marketing & Communication, Bonhôte & Cie
Bonhôte’s goal remains unchanged: to continuously enhance the client experience through ongoing and future technology partnerships like the one established with WIZE.