
Blog: Incore Expertise // 22.01.2025
#TechBank Incore: unique advantages through the seamless combination of B2B banking and IT expertise
How much tech does a bank need? Mark Dambacher, CEO of Incore Bank, not only has an answer to this question, but also provides further exciting insights into the latest developments at Incore Bank. In this blog post, he talks about the long-standing combination of banking services and IT expertise, the advantages of a banking license and what exactly makes Incore Bank's range of services so unique.
Mr. Dambacher, Incore's offering as a B2B bank is as comprehensive as it is complex. How would you describe Incore's core competence to potential customers?
The name Techbank sums it up clearly and succinctly: we are a high-performance, FINMA-regulated financial institution with comprehensive, bank-specific IT expertise. Incore has a wealth of experience and a solid foundation as a B2B transaction bank. Banks, financial intermediaries, fintech companies and other players in the financial sector benefit from our wide range of modular services.
Incore originally emerged from the spin-off of a private bank. For many years, the B2B bank has been working together with the highly specialized ICT company focused on the needs of banks, today's Incore Technology. This symbiotic relationship ultimately gave rise to the Incore Group, which has been the unified brand umbrella for banking and technology services since fall 2024. What are the specific benefits for customers of this long-standing combination of banking services and IT expertise?
Banking today is largely characterized by cost-intensive and complex IT. This important factor has developed exponentially and represents a permanent challenge for many companies, especially for smaller banks or financial intermediaries. In combination with regulatory and IT-related adjustments, this can become even more acute. Incore's seamless combination of banking and IT expertise opens up new and interesting long-term prospects in many respects. We are the sourcing partner at eye level. Anyone who wants to use B2B banking services and comes to Incore will first and foremost be talking to bankers who have a thorough understanding of banking in all its forms. As a result, they can quickly translate the respective tasks into convincing solutions. We are a bank and the majority of our clients are banks. The fact that, as an execution-only bank, we are in no way in competition with our customers' B2C business is another decisive advantage.
So the hashtag “#TechBank” used by Incore on social media is program for the entire customer spectrum, from banks to investment firms, institutional investors and fintech companies?
Absolutely. We offer in-depth banking and IT expertise from a single source, for both traditional banking and digital assets. That is unique. We meet the justifiably high expectations placed on Incore as a tech bank right from the start: the connection and implementation of products and solutions in the ecosystem of our new customers takes place extremely quickly. The duration of the onboarding process naturally depends on various factors. However, it can be very short if the due diligence requirements are optimal. Our new clients then have access to our high-quality network of around 150 counterparties from day one. This is an additional, decisive market advantage. Being a Techbank also means that our customers can rely on our innovative strength at all times. The connection of Incore to the world's first art stock exchange Artex, which we completed in March 2024, is a good example of this.
What role plays the Swiss banking license in this?
A very high one. The most important asset is trust. As a result, the banking license plays a central role, because without it we, like our competitors, would only be able to cover part of our service offering, namely business process outsourcing and ICT. Fulfilling the requirements and obligations associated with the banking license is the guarantee for our customers that we, as a regulated institution that is regularly audited in accordance with strict guidelines, meet all requirements. This is essential for them and gives them security, which is also underpinned by our equity coverage.
Incore's range of services includes both traditional banking services and services for the highly dynamic and variable digital assets sector, in which Incore also plays a pioneering role.
Yes, in 2019 we were one of the first FINMA-regulated banks to offer brokerage and custody of digital assets. This met with enormous interest right from the start, also internationally, which is remarkable. After all, when blockchain technology ushered in a few years ago, it was often said that “no more banks” would be needed in the digital assets sector. We are now seeing that the very trust that our banking license creates is also a key value for many fintech companies and bank customers in the digital asset sector.
Security is of eminent importance in the digitally pulsating, fast-paced financial world, both from a technological and a banking perspective. What are the most important cornerstones of Incore's security philosophy?
We are geared towards “zero tolerance”. IT and cyber security are among the most essential components of our lifeblood, which entails considerable financial outlay. As a regulated bank and service provider for our customers, who often can no longer afford this level of internal IT expertise, this is both a matter of course and indispensable. Even if this puts us at a cost disadvantage compared to non-regulated competitors.
How does Incore ensure regulatory compliance in customer relationships?
Every year, we draw up a compliance radar. This comprehensive process records all legal changes and new requirements that need to be implemented. We derive all adjustments for us and our community from this. We also offer our FINMA-regulated customers actual compliance support. Regular networking events are held for this dedicated compliance community, where the current topics on the implementation agenda are discussed in depth.
Incore can look back on strong growth, which is reflected in the rapid development of the HR department, among other things. How many employees does Incore Group have today?
We are about 180 employees at current. If we assume - very conservatively - an average of 15 years of professional experience per person, then our dedicated banking and IT specialists represent well over 2,500 years of expertise, which benefits our clients on a daily basis.
The positioning of Incore as a tech bank is more or less a natural evolution. What are the next development steps?
Since the strategic rebranding in fall 2024, all company branches have been united under the strong Incore Group brand umbrella. This has had an extremely positive effect on the perception of Incore as a tech bank and has met with an incredible response. The task now is to further cultivate consolidation and bring the companies even closer together. Another major topic is internationalization. We want to and can grow more from Switzerland, which is currently underlined by the new location of our Corporate Services sister company in Spain and other planned locations abroad. We are receiving more and more inquiries that show that our modular services with the “Swiss Banking” seal of quality are also enjoying a steady increase in demand abroad. We will then expand our offering in line with market requirements, for example with suitable solutions for the embedded finance sector - always inspired and driven by Incore's self-image as an innovative tech bank.
Thank you very much for the interview, Mark Dambacher.
Interview: Philipp Schweizer, Journalist and book author
The interview is part of the new blog series “Incore Expertise”. Here, experts from various specialist areas speak their minds. In interviews, specialist articles and background reports, we share current trends and practical examples with our customers and provide insights into the world of Incore.