1906: Payment transactions via Swiss Post
Swiss Post is assigned a “Postcheque and giro service”. Thanks to its dense network of 4,000 operating locations, it offers ideal conditions for this. In principle, anyone can now open an account and make cashless transfers.
1862
As early as 1862, Swiss Post introduces a money order service, which can even handle payments abroad – although the process is rather complicated in its early days. The novel thing about money orders is that there is no cash transaction between the point of payment and receipt. Postal payment transactions in the proper sense start in Switzerland in 1906, when the legislation on the Postcheque and giro service comes into force. Thanks to its dense network of around 4,000 post offices, Swiss Post offers ideal conditions for making payment transactions accessible to smaller companies and private individuals.
Popular Postcheque accounts
After a sluggish start, the number of Postcheque accounts opened rises sharply in the first ten years. This also increases the number of payment orders, and Swiss Post opens more cheque offices. The accounts are funded either by cash deposits with inpayment slips at post offices or by cashless transfers from other accounts. Rent, invoices or wages and salaries can now be easily debited or credited using account transfers. The number of Postcheque offices managing these accounts rises to 25 in 1921. The cheque office employees – mostly women – accept payments, pay out money and process transfers.
