Expenses reduce Swissquote profits

Rising costs ate into profits for the first half of 2010 at Swissquote, the leading online trading company in Switzerland.

The company on Friday reported that net income for the period fell 13.9 percent to 13.7 million francs.  

Revenues increased year-on-year to 49.6 million francs but these were offset by a 14.5 percent rise in operating costs.

Swissquote’s clients rose above 150,000 for the first time at the end of June to 153,912, an addition of 22,078 new customers.

The figure does not include the estimated 3,000 additional clients the company acquired with its recent takeover of Tradejet AG.

The company also reported that its ePrivate Banking platform for personal asset management went online this week.

The company described it as an “electronic investment advisor that communictaes interactively with the client”.