Postfinance with significantly lower operating profit

Specifically, Postfinance generated an operating profit of 203 million francs in 2024, which corresponds to a drop of 61 million or almost a quarter compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, operating income fell by a good 3 percent to 1.90 billion francs.

The result shows that the volatile interest rate environment is increasing the pressure on PostFinance's margins and forcing the financial institution to take action, Swiss Post wrote in a press release on Thursday.

Although PostFinance is not allowed to issue mortgages and loans independently, the interest differential business is the most important source of income. However, this has become more difficult again due to the various interest rate cuts by the SNB in the last few years.

The expansive monetary policy of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has "increasingly restricted the scope for attractive customer interest rates", according to Swiss Post. Falling interest rates are now making the prospect of a timely recovery in margins more difficult. Postfinance must therefore become more involved in interest-independent business - for example in the areas of investments, trading, card business and payment transactions.

Meanwhile, customer assets increased by 2.5 billion to 106.1 billion francs at the end of 2024. The number of customers is reported at 2.40 million (previous year: 2.43 million) and the headcount at 3,486 (3,340).