Case studies

Platforms, desks, measured outcomes.

A selection of projects led or co-led in Swiss banking — each presented at portfolio level with problem, action and quantified impact. Details have been institutionally framed; confidential specifics are omitted.

01

Digital Mortgage Platform

Steering committee · Product 2013 — ongoing Partner: BLKB & cantonal banks

Context

In 2013, Switzerland had no fully online mortgage origination journey. The bank set out to launch the country’s first digital mortgage in partnership with a leading cantonal bank.

Action

Member of the steering committee; designed and refined the internal tooling and operating model. Simplified the application chain end-to-end and integrated the partner bank into the bank’s digital channels.

Impact

  • Switzerland firstOnline mortgage
  • Portfolio builtCHF 500M
  • Cumulative revenueCHF 25M+
  • DistributionMulti-bank network
Product Partnerships Digital banking Mortgages Steering committee
02

Fixed Income In-House Trading

Head of trading 2013 — 2025 Markets: OTC bonds · MM

Context

Bond trading was outsourced to a single external broker. The universe was capped at ~10,000 instruments, fees were elevated and the bank had no direct control over client order handling or execution quality.

Action

Internalised the entire Fixed Income execution stack. Selected a professional data provider (Refinitiv), built proprietary order management and pricing tools, connected to electronic platforms (Bloomberg, Tradeweb, MarketAxess) and onboarded a global OTC counterparty network.

Impact

  • Counterparty network200+
  • Tradable universeExpanded ×10
  • Execution qualityTop-tier Swiss
  • Annual savingsCHF 1M+
Fixed Income OTC execution Vendor selection Refinitiv Bloomberg Counterparty risk
03

Lombard Loan Automation

Product owner · Credit 2016 — 2024 Retail · Private · Family offices

Context

Lombard lending was fully manual on both sides. Paper contracts were mailed, every request required four-eyes validation regardless of amount, and activation lag ran 48 hours to a week. Each change went through phone support.

Action

Digitised contracts. Designed one-click Lombard, sub-15-minute approval flows, self-service top-up / draw-down / cancellation from the client account, and an internal AI triage layer — “SkyLoan” — automating simple requests previously handled by operators.

Impact

  • Monthly drawn balanceCHF 40M → 400M+
  • Annual requests1,200 → 16,600
  • Approval time< 15 min
  • Operator loadMaterially reduced
Lombard credit Process automation AI triage Product Risk policy
04

Investment Funds Architecture Modernization

Programme lead 2020 — 2022 Partner: MFEX

Context

The fund architecture had not been revisited since 2009 — a technological, operational and commercial gap versus industry standards. Clients couldn’t trade hedge funds online, place orders in exotic currencies or accept disclaimers digitally. Fund traders still relied on fax. Back office reconciled thousands of orders manually.

Action

Led a full rebuild of the funds trading stack — from front-office tooling to client trading capabilities. Sourced and onboarded MFEX as the new execution partner. Implemented SWIFT order routing and confirmations, and modernised reconciliation across trading, back office and IT.

Impact

  • Annual broker savingsCHF 200K+
  • Retrocession upliftCHF 800K+
  • Order placementSWIFT-enabled
  • Product universeMaterially expanded
Investment funds MFEX SWIFT Programme management Vendor negotiation Operations
05

Institutional Bonds Brokerage

Business lead 2017 — 2022 Institutional · Asset managers

Context

The bank’s OTC bond execution had built a strong reputation. Institutional clients wanted access to that execution without being required to custody assets at the bank — a substantially different operational and risk profile.

Action

Designed and shipped a dedicated brokerage platform from zero — onboarding, risk and compliance approval, full client lifecycle, post-trade, nostro, commissions and spread management. Built specifically for institutional sales workflows.

Impact

  • Clients onboarded~30
  • Execution P&L~USD 1M
  • CoverageNon-custody institutional
  • WorkflowEnd-to-end automated
Institutional sales OTC bonds Risk · Compliance Post-trade Spread pricing
06

Fixed Income Robo Algorithm

Algorithm designer 2019 — 2021 ePB · Fixed Income

Context

Mandate to challenge the Fixed Income sleeve of the ePB robo-advisory universe. Existing logic, anchored on cVar, was incompatible with a clean Fixed Income overlay and would have created discontinuity risk at deployment.

Action

Designed an alternative methodology combining a Sharpe-based score and a 50/200 moving-average “golden cross” signal applied to a client’s past and current bond holdings — producing a rating and surfacing potentially more attractive alternatives.

Impact

  • MethodologyMarket-unique
  • ApplicationClient portfolios
  • ScopePure Fixed Income
Algorithms Robo-advisory Sharpe Signals Fixed Income
07

OTC Bonds Quote-Request Service

Service design 2017 AM · Institutional

Context

Asset-management and institutional clients consistently preferred a spread-based pricing model — embedded in the price rather than billed as an explicit fee. Existing execution lacked an RFQ-style entry point comparable to listed derivatives practice.

Action

Defined a quote-request service: client requests a firm price; trader has a bounded window to return a quote that stays aligned with market and embeds a controlled spread.

Impact

  • WorkflowRFQ-style
  • PricingSpread-embedded
  • Client segmentAM · Institutional
RFQ Pricing Institutional OTC

Contact

Open to senior banking, markets and transformation roles in Switzerland.

Email
sebastien.schneider89@gmail.com
Direct
+41 79 525 57 71
LinkedIn
/schneider-sebastien
Location
Nyon · Lake Geneva region