The development of digital banking in Switzerland began as early as the 1980s with Videotex (VTX), accessed through dedicated VTX terminals that operated exclusively via the PTT (postal, telephone and telegraphy) network. Through their electronic banking services, Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation and Credit Suisse laid the foundations for what would later become online banking in Switzerland.
In the mid-1980s, Union Bank of Switzerland introduced telebanking via Videotex, enabling clients to access account information, enter payment instructions and prepare stock market transactions remotely. With services such as UBITEL, UBITEX and UBIVIC, the bank further expanded electronic banking solutions for both private and corporate clients.
Around the same time, Swiss Bank Corporation developed VideoService 7777, which enabled clients to check account and custody account information, initiate payments and conduct securities and stock market transactions through the Videotex network. Swiss Bank Corporation also used teletext to provide up-to-date foreign exchange, precious metals and stock market information, making financial data available around the clock through television sets.
Credit Suisse likewise invested early in electronic channels. In 1985, it introduced telebanking via Videotex, followed in 1986 by SKA direct TEL, a 24-hour telephone hotline. Technically, Videotex banking was based on a television set or dedicated VTX terminal equipped with a telephone connection and keyboard. Later, clients could also use the emerging generation of personal computers with VTX software. Connections were established through the telephone network to the PTT’s Videotex system, where clients logged in using a bank identification code, contract number and password. Additional security measures, such as lists of one-time authorization codes and later chip cards, were used to authenticate transactions. Clients could access account and custody account information, obtain market data, initiate payments and conduct securities transactions.
In 1997, as the internet gradually became established and began to replace the PTT network, Credit Suisse became the first Swiss bank to launch internet banking for payments and securities trading, marking the transition from telebanking to internet banking. Around the same time, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation were also developing their own internet banking solutions.
Following the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation to form UBS, the developments pioneered by both institutions were brought together and further advanced through UBS E-Banking, UBS Connect, online trading platforms and mobile applications. Taken together, the contributions of all three institutions – with their respective innovations in telebanking, VideoService, teletext, phone banking and internet banking – played a decisive role in the digital transformation of Swiss banking.
Text sources:
Electronic Banking: Utopie oder Wirklichkeit? In: Der Monat, Swiss Bank Corporation, September 1982
Erfolgreiche Partnerschaft. Bankverein und TELETEXT arbeiten zusammen, in: Der Monat, Swiss Bank Corporation, May 1987
VideoService 7777. Telebanking mit dem Bankverein, in: Der Monat, Swiss Bank Corporation, May 1988
René Staubli, Credit Suisse lanciert Internet-Banking. In: Sonntagszeitung, 6 April 1997
UBS, 40 Years E-Banking, 2024 (unpublished internal document)
Joseph Jung, From Schweizerische Kreditanstalt to Credit Suisse Group: The History of a Bank, Zurich, 2000
Image source:
Bankverein VideoService, in: Die drei Schlüssel, Swiss Bank Corporation’s employee magazine, June 1990
Image sources at the exhibition:
Bankverein VideoService, in: Die drei Schlüssel, Swiss Bank Corporation’s employee magazine, June 1990
UBS Long-Term Archives
Sources of the images used in the exhibition video:
ETH Library Zurich, Imagearchive
UBS Long-Term Archives