Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) and True Wealth AG have signed a strategic partnership agreement.

Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) and True Wealth AG have signed a strategic partnership agreement. At the same time, BLKB is acquiring a minority stake in True Wealth and taking a seat on its Board of Directors. BLKB is thus continuing to implement its strategy of consistently driving forward business opportunities, customer offerings and channels opened up by digitalization. True Wealth will use the additional financial resources to accelerate its growth and significantly broaden its customer base thanks to the new distribution partner. The parties have agreed not to disclose the amount of the investment.

Liestal / Zurich, August 18, 2016

Beat Oberlin, Chairman of the Executive Board of BLKB, says: "BLKB continues to develop through partnerships. We are therefore delighted to be working with True Wealth - the pioneer in Swiss online wealth management - to expand our offering for digital-savvy investment customers. BLKB's security, solidity and customer proximity perfectly complement True Wealth's digital innovative strength."

Felix Niederer, CEO of True Wealth, comments: "The strategic partnership with BLKB is an important milestone in our business development. With BLKB, we have a financially strong, solid and secure partner with an excellent reputation throughout Switzerland at our side. Thanks to the trust that BLKB enjoys with its customers, we have access to a broader base of investors."

True Wealth's investment solution is a so-called Robo Advisor: it is a new offering module for BLKB and its customers with a high degree of automation and self-service for customers. The investment solution is therefore aimed at digital-savvy customers with a medium to long-term investment horizon who want to diversify their portfolio online, independently and at attractive conditions. This also enables a low entry threshold. The new offering module will be integrated into BLKB's investment universe in mid-2017 and can be used by customers throughout Switzerland with an investment sum of CHF 8,500 or more.

The True Wealth investment universe is based on exchange-traded funds (ETFs). They are cost-efficient, transparent and traded on the stock exchange. True Wealth has developed software that simplifies the ETF investment decision and puts together an optimal investment package for clients - tailored to their risk appetite and financial circumstances. Once this proposal has been created, clients have the option of customizing the content according to their preferences.

True Wealth AG was founded in 2013 by Oliver Herren, one of the founders of digitec.ch and Galaxus, and Felix Niederer, a physicist with an ETH degree and experienced asset manager, and is domiciled in Zurich.

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