News und Insights

Seit dem beginnenden Höhenflug des Bitcoins und dem Hype um Kryptowährungen sowie der zugrunde liegenden Blockchain-Technologie sind bereits zwei Jahre vergangen. Seitdem sind immer mehr Finanzinstitute involviert, welche die neue Technologie für sich und ihre Kunden nutzen wollen. Das so entstandene Blockchain-Banking lässt sich bereits in zwei Phasen unterteilen. Wohingegen in der ersten Phase bestehende Geschäftsmodelle auf neue Kundensegmente angewendet wurden, setzt der Erfolg im Blockchain-Banking 2.0 erheblich mehr Aufwand voraus – Kooperation statt Konkurrenz ist dabei ein Kernkriterium.

Der Blockchain-Markt hat sich vom anfänglichen Wilden Westen zu Zeiten des Kryptobooms verabschiedet und ist reifer geworden. Hiervon profitieren alle Marktteilnehmer. Insbesondere Banken und Finanzintermediären bieten sich vielversprechende Möglichkeiten.

Rationale und effiziente Anlageentscheidungen bilden einen Idealzustand, der in der Realität nur selten eingelöst wird. Dennoch hält sich bis heute die These des Homo oeconomicus, der seinen Nutzen maximiert – trotz nachgewiesener Selbstüberschätzung, mangelnder Information oder emotionaler Abhängigkeiten. Das interdisziplinäre Fachgebiet Behavioral Finance untersucht diese Mechanismen und bietet Finanzintermediären wie Privatpersonen interessante Lösungsansätze für nachhaltige Anlageentscheidungen.

Nowadays, cybercrime is often mentioned in the same breath as crypto assets such as bitcoin and Ether. While this may be understandable given the much-quoted anonymity of such assets, the question remains whether they really are a suitable target for fraudsters. After all, authorities and financial intermediaries are still able to trace and analyse payment flows many years further down the line. This is highlighted by cases such as MtGox and Silk Road, for which proceedings are still ongoing even years after irregularities came to light, with ever more involved wallets being identified.

While more funds were collected with initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2018 than ever before, the still relatively young market remained exposed to considerable influences. Following significant price losses and regularly occurring cases of fraud, regulators around the world are increasingly devoting their attentions to the risks and opportunities of this new asset class – and this is especially true of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Issuers and investors are welcoming the emerging legal certainty, as there is no real interest in a Wild West environment. Their focus is therefore being placed on the regulated version of an ICO – the security token offering (STO). A successful process needs to be planned, however.

Even in times of low interest rates, investors look for ways to diversify their portfolios in the hope of achieving attractive returns. This is a situation which Bank Frick – with its focus on intermediaries – also has to address. At the same time, SMEs are increasingly having problems with financing due to their valuation risks and the stricter regulation of banks under the Basel III reform package, and are therefore turning their backs on classic credit institutions. A potential solution for both sides is private debt, which is becoming an interesting form of investment for asset managers and their clients thanks to digitalisation.

Bank Frick is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Chairman of the Board of Directors Mario Frick and CEO Edi Wögerer look back at two decades of entrepreneurial banking. They explain why a company’s vision cannot simply be tokenism, how they generate added value for financial intermediaries, and why blockchain no longer has to be like the Wild West.