Cantonal bank

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.

Logo of the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks.

Description

Traditionally, cantonal banks are especially strong in savings and mortgage products.^[1] 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.^[1] Some cantonal banks offer 100% deposit insurance to their clients,^[2] whereas Swiss-domiciled banks are insured for a maximum of 100,000 CHF via the esisuisse deposit insurance scheme.^[3]

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 2022^[4]

Logo	Name	Canton	Est.	Assets (CHF billions)	Consolidated profit (CHF millions)
	Zürcher Kantonalbank	Zürich	1870	199.8	1,058.7
	Banque cantonale vaudoise	Vaud	1845	59.4	388.3
	Basler Kantonalbank	Basel-Stadt	1899	55.2	139
	St. Galler Kantonalbank	St. Gallen	1915	40.8	183.8
	Berner Kantonalbank | Banque Cantonale Bernoise	Bern	1834	39.8	159.6
	Luzerner Kantonalbank	Lucerne	1850	57	226.6
	Aargauische Kantonalbank	Aargau	1913	38.1	179
	Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank	Basel-Landschaft	1864	34.8	130
	Thurgauer Kantonalbank	Thurgau	1871	33.3	147.8
	Graubündner Kantonalbank | Banca Chantunala Grischuna | Banca Cantonale Grigione	Grisons	1870	33.2	207.5
	Banque cantonale de Genève	Geneva	1861	30	176
	Schwyzer Kantonalbank	Schwyz	1890	23.6	79.9
	Zuger Kantonalbank	Zug	1892	18.6	97.2
	Banque cantonale de Fribourg | Freiburger Kantonalbank	Fribourg	1892	27.3	141.1
	Banque cantonale du Valais | Walliser Kantonalbank	Valais	1916	19.3	72.9
	Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino	Ticino	1915	18.6	64.4
	Banque cantonale neuchâteloise	Neuchâtel	1883	11.3	42.6
	Schaffhauser Kantonalbank	Schaffhausen	1883	9.2	55.3
	Glarner Kantonalbank	Glarus	1884	8.6	25.3
	Nidwaldner Kantonalbank	Nidwalden	1879	6.2	16
	Obwaldner Kantonalbank	Obwalden	1886	5.9	13.8
	Urner Kantonalbank	Uri	1915	3.6	17.1
	Appenzeller Kantonalbank	Appenzell Innerrhoden	1899	4.1	11.9
	Banque cantonale du Jura	Jura	1979	4.3	10.2
	Total			782.4	3,644.6

Notes and references

1. Cantonal Banks
2. Nichols, Dustin I., and Mark A. Ziebold. Asset Protection Strategies & Forms. LexisNexis, 16 Nov. 2018, p. 634.
3. Kraus, Daniel, et al. Blockchains, Smart Contracts, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Law. Cheltenham, Uk ; Northampton, Ma, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019, p. 206.
4. Union des Banques Cantonales Suisses. "Bilans et comptes de résultats des Banques Cantonales au 31.12.2022" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 6 July 2023.

External links

• Website of the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks, which has information on all the cantonal banks.