UBS TO OFFER SAFE STORAGE FOR DIGITAL DATA

Switzerland's biggest bank will soon offer its clients the possibility to store digital data. In doing so, UBS is jumping on a promising trend for banks.

UBS clients will be able to benefit from the new service starting at the end of the month, placing documents, bank information and passwords into safety. «IFZ Retail Banking Blog» (in German) recently reported about the new offering.

The push comes as Switzerland – neutral, politically stable, not part of the European Union or common currency, and with secrecy entrenched from its role as a money haven – attempts to position itself as a privacy center for data, as opposed to for funds.



Several banks including Credit Suisse subsidiary Neue Aargauer Bank, St. Galler and Zuercher Kantonalbank all already offer the service to their clients. Most of the actual storage is based at DSwiss, a Zurich-based fintech company.

By contrast, UBS plans to store the data itself. DSwiss says it is a leading provider of safe storage services.

The demand for the safe storage of data has increased substantially following a string of attacks by hackers and the data theft, including ones promoted by German tax authorities.

The start-up, which was founded in 2008 and has now won UBS as a client, has its storage in a former Swiss army bunker in Attinghausen, a small town in rural central Switzerland. Bitcoin firm Xapo keeps its data at the same location.

Offering safe storage allows banks to charge fees and thus generate profit. But the service is also likely to increase customer loyalty: the more a client has to do to sever the ties to his bank, the less likely he is to actually do so.

Data centers in Switzerland have already joined up to form trade association Vigiswiss, formed to store and protect the confidential data of governments, organizations, companies and people as well as related systems such as data processing, analysis, communications and transmission.