At the start of the new millennium, mobile banking in Switzerland was still primarily a technical experiment. Banking services were provided via what was known as WAP (wireless application protocol) banking. This early mobile technology standard had been specially developed to display highly simplified internet content – so-called WML pages – on the small, low-tech screens of the mobile phones of that era. Reports from that time referred to “slow connections and frustrating error messages”. The idea had taken root, but the technology was still too cumbersome for the everyday banking needs of a broad client base.
The progression from mobile phones to smartphones marked a turning point and brought more powerful devices with larger screens, cameras and specially developed apps. As a result, banking functions no longer had to be displayed in a stripped-down format. Instead, they could be carried out directly on the device and were far more intuitive to use. For clients, this meant that banking became faster, more visually appealing and genuinely usable on the go.
As the Swiss trade magazine Netzwoche reported in its 2011 article entitled “UBS goes App”, UBS enabled its private clients in Switzerland to access their bank accounts and custody accounts by smartphone and tablet. One particularly striking feature was the integrated scanning function for payment slips, which could be photographed and then transmitted automatically to E-Banking. Apart from these functions, the service was initially limited to retrieving information.
Two years later, UBS made major progress with the launch of a new banking app. Thanks to new features, smartphone banking became considerably easier: alongside the upgraded scanning function for payment slips, the app offered detailed information on account credits and debits as well as access to market information, research and securities data.
Banking was now truly mobile: payments could be made directly via the app and securities trading was also possible.
Mobile banking had increasingly evolved from a purely informational channel into a mobile bank branch.
Text sources:
Laura Frommberg, UBS lanciert neue Banking‑App, 7 August 2013
Netzwoche, UBS lanciert Mobile‑Dienste, 1 July 2011
UBS, 40 Years E-Banking, 2024 (unpublished internal document)
UBS, First the mobile banking app, then the e-banking overhaul, in: We., the magazine for UBS employees in Switzerland, December 2013
Image source:
UBS Long-Term Archives
Image sources at the exhibition:
UBS Long-Term Archives
UBS Long-Term Archives, in: UBS Annual Review 2014, photographer Martin Rütschi
Sources of the images used in the exhibition video:
UBS Long-Term Archives