Swissquote Bank, Switzerland’s leading online bank, today announced the launch of the first mobile banking and trading application developed by a Swiss bank for the much anticipated Apple Watch, ahead of its official Swiss release date, the 26th of June.
The free Swissquote App, an add-on and extension of the existing Swissquote iPhone mobile banking and trading application, will allow users to remain connected to real-time financial market information and be alerted on a customised list of securities (equities, funds, options, futures). The app provides direct access to the latest financial news and currency exchange rates. Users can keep tabs on their own customised list of favourite stocks and follow their daily or historical evolution. A subtle wrist vibration will alert the wearer to significant market occurrences, like a stock reaching a certain price, and allow them to close trading positions if needed.
The app was created for the increasingly mobile user who wants to remain as close to the stock markets as possible. The Apple Watch application serves as an informative tool, extending the iPhone app to the wrist, further facilitating trades carried out on the iPhone.
The app, which is available from the Apple Store, will download automatically to the Apple Watch, once synchronised to the iPhone.
Marc Bürki, Swissquote Chief Executive Officer of Swissquote said: “The Apple Watch App continues our tradition to be the first in using the latest technology to facilitate banking and making formerly exclusively market information available to the common user.”
Paolo Buzzi, Chief Technical Officer at Swissquote added: “With this App we continue to democratize the world of finance. And we stay true to our philosophy of being pioneers in mobile banking. Today, 15% of our trades are made through mobile applications. We expect this figure to further rise with the increasing popularity of mobile payments and wearable connectivity. Our clients need to have access to the latest financial information to make informed decisions and not miss important opportunities. The next most logical way for us to continue to provide this information was through the Apple Watch.”
The latest launch is one of many technological milestones for the bank. Swissquote was also the first Swiss bank to launch a trading application for the iPhone in 2008, and then for the iPad in 2010. Both applications remain among the most popular financial apps on the Swiss App Store with 228,000 and 90,700 downloads respectively.
Swissquote currently has one trading app, available on seven platforms: (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Samsung TV, Google Glass). The bank also has three forex apps (Mobile Trader, FXBook, Metatrader) as well as an ePrivate Banking App (on the iPad).
Swissquote plans to closely follow the evolution of the Apple Watch and update accordingly with additional functions, including vocal recognition.