The cantonal banks (German: Kantonalbank, French: banque cantonale, Italian: banca cantonale) are 24 Swiss government-owned commercial banks. Most of them were founded between 1834 and 1916, although the Banque cantonale du Jura was founded in 1979, as the canton of Jura was not formed until 1978, by its separation from the Canton of Berne. 21 are provided by the canton in which they are based, with a guarantee for the assets held there.
Description
Traditionally, cantonal banks are especially strong in savings and mortgage products. Currently they are in the process of being partially privatized. The cantonal banks are organised and regulated by the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks, with its office in Basel.
As a group, the cantonal banks account for about 30% of the banking sector in Switzerland, with a network of over 800 branches and 16 000 employees in Switzerland. In 2021 the consolidated total assets of all cantonal banks were around 750 bln CHF, which is comparable with those of the "Big Banks": UBS and Credit Suisse.Cantonal Banks Some cantonal banks offer 100% deposit insurance to their clients,Nichols, Dustin I., and Mark A. Ziebold. Asset Protection Strategies & Forms. LexisNexis, 16 Nov. 2018, p. 634. whereas Swiss-domiciled banks are insured for a maximum of 100,000 CHF via the esisuisse deposit insurance scheme.Kraus, Daniel, et al. Blockchains, Smart Contracts, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Law. Cheltenham, Uk ; Northampton, Ma, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019, p. 206.
There are 24 cantonal banks, one in each canton of the country, except for the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which sold its bank to banking rival UBS, and Solothurn, which privatized its bank in 1995 after a scandal. Each bank uses a distinctive motif as the logo, with a cantonal colour on white used as the colours of the bank, e.g. light blue for Zürcher Kantonalbank (Zurich Cantonal Bank). Despite appearances, cantonal banks are not small private banks: in fact two of them, the Zürcher Kantonalbank and the Banque cantonale vaudoise, are the second and third biggest banks in Switzerland (after UBS).
List of cantonal banks
+List of cantonal banks with balance sheet and income statement information from December 2022LogoNameCantonEst.Assets(CHFbillions)Consolidatedprofit(CHF millions)Zürcher KantonalbankZürich1870199.81,058.7Banque cantonale vaudoiseVaud184559.4388.3Basler Kantonalbank Basel-Stadt189955.2139St. Galler KantonalbankSt. Gallen191540.8183.8Berner Kantonalbank | Banque Cantonale BernoiseBern183439.8159.6Luzerner KantonalbankLucerne185057226.6Aargauische KantonalbankAargau191338.1179Basellandschaftliche KantonalbankBasel-Landschaft186434.8130Thurgauer KantonalbankThurgau187133.3147.8 Banca Chantunala Grischuna | Banca Cantonale GrigioneGrisons187033.2207.5Banque cantonale de GenèveGeneva186130176Schwyzer KantonalbankSchwyz189023.679.9Zuger KantonalbankZug189218.697.2 Freiburger KantonalbankFribourg189227.3141.1 Walliser KantonalbankValais191619.372.9Banca dello Stato del Cantone TicinoTicino191518.664.4Banque cantonale neuchâteloiseNeuchâtel188311.342.6Schaffhauser KantonalbankSchaffhausen18839.255.3Glarner KantonalbankGlarus18848.625.3Nidwaldner KantonalbankNidwalden18796.216Obwaldner KantonalbankObwalden18865.913.8Urner KantonalbankUri19153.617.1Appenzeller KantonalbankAppenzell Innerrhoden18994.111.9Banque cantonale du Jura Jura19794.310.2Total782.43,644.6
Notes and references
External links Website of the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks, which has information on all the cantonal banks.