The introduction of punched-card technology in 1947 marked a turning point in data processing for Switzerland’s major banks – particularly Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation and Swiss Credit Institution. Originally developed for the US Census, punched cards enabled the automation of large volumes of data and gradually replaced account ledgers that had been maintained by hand or with typewriters. Machine-readable punched cards made booking transactions and account management faster, more accurate and more reliable.
The first punched-card installations consisted of mechanical machines such as punching, sorting, collating, card-reading and tabulating machines. Many work steps, including removing and inserting punched cards or executing calculations (programs), were still carried out manually and sequentially. The central component was the tabulating machine: it could read, sort, add, subtract and generate subtotals from data. It was controlled through a hard-wired plugboard, unlike a computer, which is freely programmable and equipped with electronic memory.
Punched cards enabled the structured calculation and analysis of large datasets, particularly for routine tasks involving securities, coupons and current accounts. Their introduction also created new professions, such as maintenance technicians and data typists, leading to lasting changes within centralized processing departments. As a result, the punched-card department evolved into a center of technological progress within the banking industry.
Text sources:
Peter G. Rogge, The Dynamics of Change. Swiss Bank Corporation 1872–1997: the fifth quarter century, Basel, 1997
Das Lochkarten-System im Bankbetrieb. In: SBG-Blätter No. 49, January 1947
Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, Elektronische Daten-Verarbeitung im Dienste unserer Kunden, Zurich, 1959
UBS, UBS Virtual Museum, Introduction of punched-card technology, 2022
Image source:
Joseph Jung, From Schweizerischen Kreditanstalt to Credit Suisse Group: The History of a Bank, Zurich, 2000
Image sources at the exhibition:
Joseph Jung, From Schweizerischen Kreditanstalt to Credit Suisse Group: The History of a Bank, Zurich, 2000
UBS Long-Term Archives, in: SBG-Blätter, No. 49, January 1947
Sources of the images used in the exhibition video:
UBS Long-Term Archives
UBS Long-Term Archives, photo Atelier Eidenbenz, Basel
UBS Long-Term Archives, photo H. Wolf-Bender's Erben, Zürich
UBS Long-Term Archives, photographer J.-Pierre Vautier Genève
UBS Long-Term Archives, photographer Peter Heman
UBS Long-Term Archives, photographer Willy Wullschleger, Zurich