I am a trained banking specialist and once completed my apprenticeship in the mid-90s at the Volksbank in Neu-Ulm. I have also remained loyal to the cooperative sector ever since. In 1998 I moved to Raiffeisenbank Reutte/Raiffeisenbank Jungholz to the beautiful Tyrol in Austria. I was also responsible for a while for the subsidiary Bankhaus Jungholz Switzerland with its headquarters in St. Gallen. Afterwards I moved on to Raiffeisenbank Kleinwalsertal and the subsidiary of Raiffeisenbank Liechtenstein. During my time at Raiffeisenbank in Reutte, I set up a discount broker for trading securities that was then marketed under the brand „Direct Investment in Austria“ (DAIÖ).

Cooperative banks are increasingly relying on cryptocurrencies As Head of Securities Trading, I spent countless project hours integrating the so-called ELBA system. ELBA stands for Electronic Banking and my task was to ensure that trading in stocks, certificates, funds or derivatives such as options was integrated into the ELBA system of our bank, so that it was made accessible to our direct investment customers online via our website. Around 25 years later, ELBA is still present in the Austrian Raiffeisen sector. The large Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien announced in the spring of 2023 the examination of a cooperation with Bitpanda.

This went live at the end of 2023 and the services of Bitpanda are now integrated into the ELBA system of RLB NÖ-Wien, which serves around one million customers in its large region. This is a milestone for the entire Raiffeisen sector and a knight’s blow for Bitpanda. With the Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte, a cooperative bank from Germany recently also took part in a pure Bitcoin app (21bitcoin) from Austria and the Raiffeisen sector is now also moving towards cryptocurrencies in Switzerland.

Raiffeisen Switzerland joins digital exchange SIX! After Raiffeisen banks in Germany and Austria, there are now also corresponding crypto signals from Switzerland. The SDX, licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), operates an exchange and a central depository (CSD) based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). Raiffeisen Switzerland, a leading Swiss banking group, is now joining SDX, the world’s first fully regulated digital financial market infrastructure. This membership positions Raiffeisen Switzerland at the forefront of the digital asset revolution.

SDX provides a comprehensive blockchain-based platform for the issuance, trading, settlement and custody of digital securities. The „Atomic Settlement“ function synchronizes the execution of the trade, the transfer of the security and the payment and eliminates counterparty risk. In addition, the integration of SDX into SIS (SIX CSD) facilitates seamless access for institutional clients and bridges the gap between digital and traditional infrastructures. With its membership of the SDX ecosystem, Raiffeisen Switzerland expands its presence and experience in the field of digital assets, with the aim of actively contributing to the development of the industry and the product landscape for digital assets such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Invest and diversify on solid paths into the new technology world of digitalization and tokenization! Digital assets will play an increasingly important role in the future. Take advantage of the opportunity now: Invest and diversify on solid paths into blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies around Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co. as well as megatrends such as cybersecurity, the metaverse, NFTs or artificial intelligence (AI). In the context of KRYPTO-X, I show you effective means and practical ways.