A typical Swiss Press Release announced the appointment of Andreas Lutz as the new CEO of Fides, one of the leaders in multi-bank connectivity, which began: 

• “Fides Treasury Services Ltd., a member of the Credit Suisse Group and the global leader in multi-bank connectivity and communications, today announced that Andreas Lutz has been unanimously appointed by Fides’ Board of Directors as chief executive officer effective immediately. Lutz succeeds Fides’ previous chief executive, Alain Schmid, who announced his desire to step down in September 2016 to pursue continued service within Fides’ parent company, Credit Suisse Ltd.”

Not surprisingly, Lutz said that, ““I am honoured that the board has chosen me to lead Fides into the future and continue the legacy of excellence that we have delivered to the market for over a century,” says Andreas Lutz. “My vision is for Fides to continue to be at the forefront of connectivity and transaction communication innovations.”

Fides vision and role

Fides is certainly the oldest player in the multi-bank connectivity market and have changed their focus and direction over the 100 years they have been in existence. Lutz believes that the mission of Fides is going to continue to be to enhance connectivity for their clients and make connectivity invisible to their clients. They plan to be at the forefront of connectivity by product enhancements and moving into new markets.

Today they key focuses include:

• partnerships with TMS providers such as Reval, SAP and TreasuryXpress, e.g. Reval have just been recognised by TMI as the ‘Best Bank Connectivity’ provider
• Continually investing in their products, e.g. In 2017:
  • Q1: update of their payment service product
  • Q2: ARS the web-based account statement reporting service to be upgraded with new dashboards, etc. 
• Adapting and entering into new market segments, e.g. PSD2 where they will offer new services for financial institutions.

Overall, Lutz believes that the business model has been very successful, nevertheless there is still a need to adapt and evolve as they update their products and enter new markets. What is needed now is to consider, “What is needed on top of the current model.”

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CTMfile take: Fides has an impressive record of evolving and adapting to meet changing technologies and markets, and confounding experts who predict their disappearance. Lutz will definitely continue this tradition and expand their coverage.