Cantonal bank

The logo of the cantonal banks, with the motif of the cantonal banks

Cantonal banks (German: Kantonalbank, French: banque cantonale, Italian: banca cantonale) are Swiss governmental-owned commercial banks, that use the canton that they are based in as guarantee for the assets held there. However, currently they are in process of being partially privatised. The cantonal banks are organised and regulated by the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks, with its office in Basel. As a group, the cantonal banks amounts for about 30% of the banking sector in Switzerland with a network of over 800 branches and 16 000 employees in Switzerland.

There are 24 cantonal banks, one in each canton of the country, except in the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, who sold its bank to banking rival UBS, and Solothurn, who privatised its bank in 1995 after a scandal. Each bank uses a distinctive motif as the logo with a cantonal colour on white used as the colours of the bank, e.g. light blue for Zürcher Kantonalbank (Zurich Cantonal Bank). Despite what they seem to appear, cantonal banks are not little private banks, as two of them, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise are the third and fourth biggest banks in Switzerland (after UBS AG and Credit Suisse) .

List of Cantonal Banks

• Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB) [1]
• Appenzeller Kantonalbank (APPKB) [2]
• Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino (BancaStato) [3]
• Banque Cantonale de Fribourg (BCF/FKB) [4]
• Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE) [5]
• Banque Cantonale du Jura (BCJU) [6]
• Banque Cantonale du Valais (BCVS/WKB) [7]
• Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise (BCN) [8]
• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) [9]
• Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) [10]
• Basler Kantonalbank (BKB) [11]
• Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB/BCBE) [12]

• Glarner Kantonalbank (GLKB) [13]
• Graubündner Kantonalbank (GKB) [14]
• Luzerner Kantonalbank (LUKB) [15]
• Nidwaldner Kantonabank (NWKB) [16]
• Obwaldner Kantonalbank (OWKB) [17]
• St.Galler Kantonalbank (SGKB) [18]
• Schaffhauser Kantonalbank (SHKB) [19]
• Schwyzer Kantonalbank (SZKB) [20]
• Thurgauer Kantonalbank (TKB) [21]
• Urner Kantonalbank (URKB) [22]
• Zuger Kantonalbank (ZugerKB) [23]
• Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) [24]

External links

• Website of the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks, which has information on all the cantonal banks.