Letter on the 2025 financial year

Dear residents of Zurich

We look back on a challenging year and are therefore particularly pleased that Zürcher Kantonalbank was once again able to generate very good annual results and thus continue its success story.

2025 was characterised by difficult conditions. The global rules of politics and business are now also being called into question by the most powerful country in the world, thus unsettling the basis for the success of a small country like Switzerland. Domestically, the adjustment to this and the zero interest rate policy are challenging for everyone, including Swiss banks.

At least the diminishing inflationary pressure is providing a ray of hope. Technological developments such as artificial intelligence offer opportunities and are drivers for the economy and financial markets; at the same time, they require a high level of attention from policymakers and business.

The intended tightening of regulation for Swiss banks continued to occupy the industry in 2025 – and this will remain a dominant topic for some time to come. Our position remains the same. We support regulation with a sense of proportion that respects the preservation of competitiveness, applies simple principles and considers the different complexity, size and risk profile of banks. Within this framework, Zürcher Kantonalbank is pleased to make its contribution to the stability of the Swiss financial centre with its more than 200 banks. We take this responsibility seriously as the country’s second-largest universal bank with a Zurich footprint.

In doing so, ZKB is following its tried-and-tested strategy of many years. We continue to strive for qualitative growth while adhering to our responsible risk policy. We aim to remain the clear number one in the Zurich economic area and expand our leading position. Nationally, we utilise our strengths in selected segments, and internationally, we exploit opportunities.  

Diversification ensures continuity, security and stability

We are therefore also consolidating our statutorily prescribed model of the universal bank. We offer a full range of services – for retail clients and corporate clients as well as for institutional investors and international corporations. The further diversification of our business – primarily by strengthening the off-balance-sheet investment business – ensures continuity, security and stability.

This has also proven its worth in 2025, as the business figures for the past year show. Zürcher Kantonalbank realised a strong operating performance and is reporting a consolidated profit before tax of CHF 1.42 billion. Despite the challenging interest rate environment, income from interest operations remained at the previous year’s level; the commission business and services as well as the trading business grew quite strongly and closed the year significantly higher than in the previous year.

As in previous years, the Canton of Zurich and the municipalities of Zurich benefit from ZKB’s profit too: The total participation amounts to CHF 581 million in the year under review (2024: CHF 562 million) – viewed over the last ten years, the participation adds up to more than CHF 4 billion.

We are allocating CHF 840 million of our profit to equity – this ensures greater stability. The bank’s risk-based total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) ratio of 32.2 percent exceeds the regulatory requirements.

The long-term management of Zürcher Kantonalbank is also linked to the continuous fulfilment of the statutory public service mandate. In the year under review, the bank used CHF 149 million for this purpose. The bank contributes to solving economic, social and sustainability-related challenges in the Canton of Zurich by maintaining some long-standing commitments – such as the support for the Zurich Transport Association, the Zurich Zoo, the ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark or the Zürilauf Cup. ZKB’s engagement is rounded off with initiatives such as the ZKB Philanthropy Foundation, corporate volunteering and support for the Zurich University of Teacher Education in setting up the “Future of Vocational Training” lab.

New "Retail Clients" business unit successfully launched

Zürcher Kantonalbank has also created the conditions for positioning itself effectively amid a dynamic market environment and with a view to the future. We enhanced the bank strategically and established a new "Retail Clients" business unit in the reporting year – this was successfully operationalised in November. We are therefore strengthening our statutorily anchored core business and expanding our leading position in the bank’s home market.

With this step, we are also consistently aligning our organisation with client needs in the areas of Retail Clients, Private Banking, Corporate Clients and Institutional/Multinationals, delivering even more on our value proposition of being a bank close to our clients and creating clear added value for our clients and our employees.

At the same time, we want to continue the successful development of recent years in Private Banking. We are adding the "Investment Solutions" activities to this business unit to bolster our investment competence with this additional expertise. And by integrating commercial clients into the "Corporate Clients" business unit, we are supporting the successful development of this business area. Overall, these measures expand our room for manoeuvre, which we aim to exploit from a position of strength.

These organisational adjustments are accompanied by a steady expansion of our digitalisation offering. The introduction of the qualified electronic signature, for example, makes digital onboarding even faster. Multibanking enables the centralised management and overview in ZKB eBanking of all bank accounts of participating Swiss banks. And the Instant Payment service is being expanded with the option of sending instant payments.

New opportunities are opening up with the launch of sustainable equity ETFs and the advancement of our asset management strategy through the opening of a sales office in Madrid. And finally, we are also strengthening our capital market business by acquiring cosmofunding, the digital brokerage platform for private placements on the capital market – the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

Personnel rejuvenation, attractive as an employer

The development and rejuvenation of ZKB is also reflected at the personnel level within the bank. Kristine Schulze and Dr York-Peter Meyer have been in office as new members of the Board of Directors since the beginning of 2025. Susanne Thellung, a proven manager, will head the new "Retail Clients" business unit. As the new Head of IT, Operations & Real Estate, Dr Mario Crameri provides impetus in this business area, which is essential for banking operations. In addition, the Board of Directors has appointed Roger Reist as the designated Head of Institutionals & Multinationals from 1 July 2026; he succeeds Dr Stephanino Isele, who will leave the bank at the end of June 2026 as part of the regular succession planning for members of the Executive Board. And finally, Dr Anja Hochberg will replace Christoph Schenk as the new Chief Investment Officer.

Even though the bank is changing, employee commitment and dedication remain very good. This is also shown by the results of the employee satisfaction survey conducted in the reporting year: The commitment index is well above the industry average. That makes us very happy and shows that the bank is an attractive employer.

Zürcher Kantonalbank remains one of the safest banks in the world, as this year’s top ratings from leading rating agencies confirm. The bank’s stability is based on its diversified business model and very high financial risk buffers. The good balance sheet values and the bank’s surpassing of the regulatory requirements also ensure that ZKB maintains its position of maximum security even without a state guarantee.

What counts for us as Zürcher Kantonalbank is that we always act responsibly and that our actions are characterised by respect and appreciation: towards our clients, towards our employees and towards all the people of Zurich. This is the only way to build trust. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to you for repeatedly placing your trust in us.